Season 1

Episode List

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#	Title	Writing Credits	Airdate	Prod. code	Synopsis
0	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Henry Gilroy Steven Melching Scott Murphy	08-15-08		Obi-Wan and Anakin wrap up the battles of Christophsis, gaining padawan Ashoka Tano. With the Separatists having mined the major hyperspace lanes, the Republic jumps at the chance to assist Jabba the Hutt, whose son has been kidnapped. Hutt controlled hyperspace lanes would allow Republic access to the Outer Rim theater. But the kidnapping is a Separatist ruse designed to discredit the Jedi.
1	"Ambush"[TCW1]	Steven Melching	10-03-08	1.08	Jedi Master Yoda and three clone troopers -- Jek, Thire, and Rys -- must face off against Count Dooku's dreaded assassin Ventress and her massive droid army to prove the Jedi are strong enough to protect Toydaria and forge a treaty for the Republic.
2	"Rising Malevolence"[TCW1]	Steven Melching	10-03-08	1.07	With Republic starships being mysteriously destroyed, Jedi Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers track a mystery warship to the Abregado system. The Separatist ship Malevolence, with its ion cannons, leaves the Jedi and clones in escape pods struggling to survive until Anakin and Ahsoka can find them.
3	"Shadow of Malevolence"[TCW1]	Steven Melching	10-10-08	1.09	With the help of his Padawan Ahsoka and Jedi Master Plo Koon, Anakin utilizes new long-range Y-wing bombers to lead a bold strike on General Grievous' warship, the Malevolence, and its destructive weapon.
4	"Destroy Malevolence"[TCW1]	Tim Burns	10-17-08	1.11	Padmé Amidala and C-3PO are taken hostage by Grievous, leaving Anakin and Obi-Wan to save the Senator and complete the destruction of the Malevolence.
5	"Rookies"[TCW1]	Steven Melching	10-24-08	1.14	Alone on a distant tracking station outpost on a Rishi moon near Kamino, clone officers Captain Rex and Commander Cody must inspire their rookie unit to believe in themselves to stave off a Droid Commando invasion.
6	"Downfall of a Droid"[TCW1]	George Krstic	11-07-08	1.05	In the rings of a planet in the Bothawui system, R2-D2 is lost during a fierce space battle, and Anakin must find him before the Separatists discover the Jedi military secrets locked in his memory banks.
7	"Duel of the Droids"[TCW1]	Kevin Campbell Henry Gilroy	11-14-08	1.07	Anakin, Ahsoka and replacement droid R3-S6 embark on a dual rescue/sabotage mission when they discover R2-D2 is being held at General Grievous' secret listening post in the Ruusan system.
8	"Bombad Jedi"[TCW1]	Kevin Rubio Steven Melching Henry Gilroy	11-21-08	1.06	Jar Jar Binks a Jedi Knight? So think the Separatists when the comically heroic Gungan and C-3PO fight to save Padmé Amidala from doom at the hands of evil Viceroy Nute Gunray, who has coerced Outer Rim planet Rodia to betray the Republic.
9	"Cloak of Darkness"[TCW1]	Paul Dini	12-05-08	1.10	Ahsoka and Jedi Master Luminara escort a captured Nute Gunray to trial, unaware that Count Dooku has dispatched his deadly disciple and assassin Asajj Ventress to free the prisoner and eliminate the Jedi.
10	"Lair of Grievous"[TCW1]	Henry Gilroy	12-12-08	1.12	General Grievous must prove himself worthy of the Separatists when Count Dooku lures Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his former Padawan, the Mon Calamari Jedi Nahdar Vebb into Grievous' villainous enclave.
11	"Dooku Captured"[TCW1]	Julie Siege	01-02-09	1.16	During their own attempt to capture Count Dooku, Anakin and Obi-Wan discover that the Sith Lord has already been captured by space pirates.
12	"The Gungan General"[TCW1]	Julie Siege	01-09-09	1.20	While negotiating Count Dooku’s ransom, Anakin and Obi-Wan are taken prisoner. The Jedi and Sith form an unlikely alliance in a bid to escape, with Jar Jar Binks as their only hope.
13	"Jedi Crash"[TCW1]	Katie Lucas	01-16-09	1.22	When Anakin is gravely injured in battle, Jedi General Aayla Secura must teach Ahsoka the Jedi philosophy of having no personal attachments -- while they brave a hostile planet in search of medical help for the Jedi Knight.
14	"Defenders of Peace"[TCW1]	Bill Canterbury	01-23-09	1.24	While the Jedi combat a new Separatist weapon, the pacifist Lurmen must decide whether they will lay down to the oppressive Separatists or fight with Anakin, Ahsoka and Jedi General Aayla Secura.
15	"Trespass"[TCW1]	Steven Melching	01-30-09	1.25	While investigating the disappearance of a clone security force, Anakin and Obi-Wan get caught in the middle of an escalating conflict between the furry territorial inhabitants of a desolate ice world and the greedy representatives of a nearby moon.
16	"The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1]	Drew Greenberg	02-06-09	2.01	In a prequel to the film, Anakin and Obi-Wan discover evidence of a traitor amongst their ranks while attempting to lead Republic forces to liberate the planet of Christophsis from a Separatist siege.
17	"Blue Shadow Virus"[TCW1]	Craig Titley	02-13-09	1.26	Padmé and Jar Jar are captured while searching for a secret Separatist bio-weapons lab, sparking Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka to try and save their friends and halt the release of a deadly virus.
18	"Mystery of a Thousand Moons"[TCW1]	Brian Larsen	02-13-09	2.02	The fatal Blue Shadow virus is released, infecting Ahsoka, Padmé, and many clone troopers -- and giving Anakin and Obi-Wan just 48 hours to find the antidote on a mysterious planet from which no visitor has ever returned.
19	"Storm Over Ryloth"[TCW1]	George Krstic Scott Murphy Henry Gilroy	02-27-09	1.15	Ahsoka disobeys Anakin's orders and loses most of her squadron -- prompting Anakin to help give his Padawan a lesson in respect for authority, and the opportunity for redemption.
20	"Innocents of Ryloth"[TCW1]	Randy Stradley Henry Gilroy	03-06-09	1.17	To sabotage a powerful Separatist weapon, Obi-Wan and a small clone force enter an occupied town, and discover that its residents are being used as a living shield.
21	"Liberty on Ryloth"[TCW1]	Henry Gilroy	03-13-09	1.19	With his forces stretched thin, Mace Windu must convince Twi'lek freedom fighter Cham Syndulla to help him save the capital city, and the planet, from the droids' destruction.
22	"Hostage Crisis"[TCW1]	Eoghan Mahony	03-20-09	2.04	To free Ziro the Hutt from prison on Coruscant, Cad Bane and a group of Bounty Hunters take senators as hostages, completely unaware that an unarmed Anakin Skywalker is lurking around in the very same side of the building while Padmé Amidala has Anakin's Lightsaber.

Special thanks to Wikipedia for the Episode List and Synopses and Wookieepedia for the text of the opening monologues.

0. Star Wars: The Clone Wars

"A galaxy divided! Striking swifty after the battle of Geonosis, Count Dooku's droid army has seized control of the major hyperspace lanes, separating the Republic from the majority of its clone army. With few clones available, the Jedi generals cannot gain a foothold in the Outer Rim, as more and more planets choose to join Dooku's Separatists. While the Jedi are occupied fighting a war, no one is left to keep the peace. Chaos and crime spread, and the innocent become victims in a lawless galaxy. Crime lord Jabba the Hutt's son has been kidnapped by a rival band of pirates. Desperate to save his son, Jabba puts out a call for help, a call the Jedi are cautious to answer."

(Incidentally, there is a bit of what seems to be an 'error' above. Jabba's son was seemingly not kidnapped by a rival band of pirates. Asajj Ventress was apparently aboard the ship that took him . . . a ship that was on Christophsis, per "The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1]. While it is possible that she was involved with a rival band, there is no other indication of this beyond the statement above.

Either there was a rival band -- perhaps being who provided the peculiar vessel in the first place -- or else we cannot trust the narration to be perfectly accurate.)

Chronological Notes

The specific time period for this show is of great potential interest, insofar as determining where it fits between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

The narration notes that Dooku struck swiftly after Geonosis, but then gives a litany of other events that could've taken awhile, such as planets switching sides and the evolution of chaos and crime. Several thousand solar systems were leaving as of the beginning of Attack of the Clones, however, so having other planets on the cusp of departure which then depart after a major event (such as the seizure of hyperspace lanes) is not inconceivable. However, an overnight crime wave with an extra helping of chaos does sound a bit more inconceivable, thereby pushing back the start of the series.

Subjectively, I'd give Dooku less than a month to strike, followed by an unknown number of months after that for the evolution of crime. I'd therefore place this film at around six to twelve months after the Battle of Geonosis, pending further information.

Space Notes

Communications

A solar storm can interrupt communications across inter-system distances, given that an admiral suggests a solar storm as a possible reason for an extended inability to contact the forces on Christophsis.

When Ahsoka is dropped off, we see the Venator she arrived on under attack.  Nevertheless, the ship is able to patch in the forces on the surface with Coruscant.  Thus, contrary to some claims that shields block Holonet communications, it seems likely that they do not.

Galactography

The kidnappers take the Huttlet to the planet Teth, said to be in "wild space", outside the range of the fighting. A monastery had been built there and abandoned at some point, implying some period of colonization followed by abandonment.

This strongly supports the fact that there's a lot more of the galaxy than what is contained within the Republic or Empire, as we knew from other materials. The A New Hope novelisation tells us that the Empire is a "tiny portion" of the galaxy, and a "tiny fraction of this section of one modest-sized galaxy".

While the Expanded Universe materials have suggested a galaxy larger than our own, the Milky Way is already quite above average . . . not modest-sized at all. In the Local Group of 40 galaxies, even excluding anything below 10,000 light-years across, the average galaxy size of the remaining 13 is 36,500 light years. Even if we double that out of a misguided sense of size envy, the Republic ought to be some small portion of a galaxy some 75,000 light-years across, give or take, and thus probably not more than about 10-12,000 light-years in width, depending on its shape.

Drive Systems - FTL

The trips here include Coruscant to Christophsis, Christophsis to Teth, and Teth to Tatooine. The Teth to Tatooine trip takes half a day or so, given that Obi-Wan makes it to Teth and then Anakin makes it from Teth to Tatooine. However, whereas Teth is wild space, Tatooine is merely deep in the outer rim. This is suggestive of speeds greater than the AotC example, though we'll have to see more about where wild space is considered to begin and such*. Logically the outer rim is close to it.

*(After all, who would've expected Geonosis and Tatooine to be less than a parsec apart?)

Sensors

Separatist sensors are able to detect Anakin, the Hutt, and Ashoka in the Tatooine desert. It's possible these are Separatist ground-based sensors, though it seems more likely these sensors are on the ship that the Separatists arrived in.

Shields

The Venator in the Teth atmosphere battle drops shields (or "lift shields", as they say) over its "lower rear hangar". This is seen to be the major portal on the vessel's port side, in the large notch of the main hull. 

Rear deflectors are a separate repair job aboard the Twilight.

Space Facilities

We see our first Star Wars starbase. I'd used those as an example before of reasonable expectations . . . e.g. that we'd never seen a starbase in Star Wars but we could assume they existed. Nice to actually see it, even if it is fairly small. Assuming 1100 meter Venators, the base is no more than 500m wide, and probably more like 400.




It was a relatively simple design . . . . Republic ships dock with their noses against the station. Presumably the cylindrical winged vessels (which dock vertically like the transports at the medical base in "Shadow of Malevolence"[TCW1]) are base resupply transports, a la Progress and the ISS. Otherwise the large warships getting supplies from the base would be akin to a mosquito trying to suck blood from a gnat or mite.

Warships and Spacecraft

The Venator is already seen as the primary warship of the Republic, even now so soon after the Battle of Geonosis. Presumably the vessel already existed. Acclamators are seen as the primary large transport, and any armaments have yet to be observed. The Venator can apparently carry some cargo and supplies, however, if needs be.

Acclamator interiors are enormous. The center section of the vessel is a vast hollow room, apparently straight-through to both sides of the ship, with support vessel egress by way of the ramps seen in AotC.





Those ramps are at the rear of the cavernous room, and the room extends forward for some distance. Though, curiously, comparison of the two shots above seems to suggest that the Republic shuttle is landing in a separate large room. Note the hull thickness difference as well as the two support beams for the ramp . . . in the lower shot, they are not extending into the room as we might expect from the upper shot.   It's conceivable that where the upper shot shows us scaffolding actually meets a shuttlebay further forward, meaning the shuttle above goes through the outer ramp door and then another door into a separate huge bay.   There could thus be two ramps down from this room to the ground . . . one to the lower level which meets perfectly with the lower ramp.  That would be an interesting design.

The Separatist warships most often observed in this episode are referred to in the non-canon as Munificent class and said to be 825 meters in length. Munificents are seen to be quite numerous in the CGI series. Referred to at times as battlecruisers or frigates (see 19 - "Storm over Ryloth"), the vessels are covered with guns but the ships are of a curious design lacking in internal volume.

Some fighters are seen being used by Dooku's Magna-Guard droids in orbit of Tatooine, similar to boxy Vulture droid fighters but somehow far more attractive. The last time we saw them was around Utapau, and in the EU they are considered Utapaun P-38 fighters. Here, though, it seems clear they must belong to the Magna-Guards, or else are of a common design. However, they don't shoot any better than droid fighters, as a two-minute-long constant barrage of weapons fire only produces two or three hits. The unique fighters are also somewhat flimsy, given that single hits from the Twilight manage to completely disassemble them.

Weapon Firepower

There was more of the same sort of in-atmosphere combat between front-line starships like we saw in RotS, but this time even lower. As one might expect, there are no nuclear-esque mushroom clouds and fireballs. That just wouldn't be Star Wars.

Weapon Range

At Christophsis, the relief fleet . . . four Acclamator transports and three Venator cruisers . . . under Admiral Wullf Yularen arrives to a point almost nose-to-nose with a significant Separatist blockade fleet with at least three Trade Federation battleships and multiple Munificents.



They do not come under attack, and both sides appear to behave as if the other is out of range. After arrival, for instance, a clone tells Yularen that they are approaching the planet, and Yularen orders the fleet deployed with the cruisers protecting the transports. At that point, if range were no issue, the battleships could already have been tearing up the transports.

Ground Notes

Communications

Admiral Wulff Yularen, when noting the extended inability to contact forces on Christophsis, suggests a comm system reboot as a possible cause. This implies that interstellar comm systems deployed to ground forces can take a long time to reboot.

It's not clear what all constituted the communication system.  All we see is that the Christophsis forces seem to be carrying a large and thick round table around with them.  This table is used for both holographic tactical displays and communication, and appears identical to those used aboard Venator cruisers in the area just behind the bridge.

When Anakin and Ahsoka run into a droideka and have combat with it, there is apparently no alerting of the other droid forces to the fact that two Jedi are far behind the droid lines. Similarly, there seems to be no communication with the large droids triggered to protect the shield generator. Indeed, as long as we're already on the point, there was seemingly no communication between the first droid group of the opening battle . . . featuring numerous droids and three Tri-Droids . . . and the second group, featuring still more droids and assault tanks. The general leading the droid army from the second group's rear tanks did not find out about the Republic cannons until he was within range of them, despite there having been no less than three minutes of combat (resulting in the complete destruction of the first group).

Defense Systems

On Christophsis, the Separatists have a Gungan-esque theater shield, emitted from a fixed location rather than from a device on an animal's back.

Unprotected lifeforms appear capable of passing through expanding theater shields. Not only do we have Obi-Wan below, but even Anakin and Ahsoka under an unsealed box are protected.



In addition to the other differences in behavior, the lack of effect on tissue implies a much different nature for the ray shields as seen on the Invisible Hand in RotS. Those reportedly would kill if touched.

Weapons fire is seen to be fired from within the shield, though interestingly battle droids and their rifles are actually advancing and firing from just outside the shield.   The only weapon fire seen emerging from within the shield is that of tanks and the large walker droids.   Given that putting battle droids outside the shield and exposed seems entirely wasteful from a tactical standpoint, it may stand to reason that small arms fire cannot penetrate the shield outbound any more than it can inbound.  

This may suggest some commonality with droideka shields, since droidekas in this film poke their blasters just out of their shield when firing, as seen when Anakin and Ahsoka bump into one (and as also appears to be the case in The Phantom Menace).






Also interesting is the different effect between large cannon shots and Republic small arms fire.  The small arms burst against the shield in a shower of sparks with no other obvious effect.  The large cannon shots pound against the shield producing ripples, but instead of sparks we get a brief flash of a fluid-esque fireball.

Droids

Almost every variety of droid from the films are seen on Christophsis, from the normal humanoid battle droids to the spider droids and droidekas. What we don't see are any flying droids.

We do see flying droids and droids in flight on Teth. As the Republic forces attempt to ascend the rockface, STAPs (the battle droid upright flying platforms first seen on Naboo in TPM) attack them, and, later, droid Vulture-class fighter/walkers are observed in flight.

Amidala easily surprises and escapes from an armed assassin droid owned by Ziro the Hutt. When later surprised herself by either the same or a second such droid, she draws on and kills it before it reacts. Another droid disarms her, however, before she can continue her spree.

A Separatist standard battle droid fails to recognize a standard holocommunication unit used by both sides, activating it and thus giving away the fact that Amidala is in danger.

Three Magna-Guards are disposed of by Ahsoka. Beginner's luck?

Facilities

We don't see either the clone or droid facilities in this episode. For that we must wait for "The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1].

Sensors

Republic forces seemed to have no significant sensor capability on Christophsis.

Separatist Assault Tanks apparently have no sensor capacity other than the basics for firing, since there was no detection of Republic heavy cannons by the General's tank until it was too late.

The other landing platform at the Teth Monastery went undetected by two scout troopers on the ground as well as the entire Republic landing force. Similarly, the funky old ship Twilight that Anakin commandeers was also undetected the entire time . . . otherwise one might've sought to take the enemy vessel and use it as a Trojan Horse at the Monastery entrance, not to mention unravelling the entire plot besides.

Jabba the Hutt seems to have no sensors around his palace, given that he never detects the Huttlet and with it the treachery of Dooku.

Stratego-Tactical

I am unclear as to a few Republic maneuvers. For instance, a clutch of AT-STs are sent running toward the droid lines. The battlefield, mind you, is a wide roadway akin in width to an eight-lane interstate highway, which is nice but also means that there is no real cover save for assorted debris, nor is there any way of sneaking up on anyone. Thus to have these vehicles go driving up the middle seems to just be a way of making targets, which is what they appear to become.

Similarly, once Anakin's air cavalry raid to the rear of the first droid group's lines occurs, Obi-Wan orders a charge, resulting in several casualties that might not have occurred otherwise.

Despite having every other sort of droid, no flying droids were apparent at Christophsis among the better-equipped Separatist forces. Nor was there any use of high ground. This gave the Republic the altitude advantage in the form of Anakin's air cavalry raid behind the first Separatist group's lines. There are at least five jetpack-laden clones with him, but the jetpacks get only brief use in the cavalry-style raid. And even then they don't do it right . . . they just land on the ground in the open beside the enormous walker and start running along and shooting it like morons. Remarkably they apparently succeed in bringing down the walker they were targeting, but only after the rest of the battle is over. Similarly, during the second battle clones high-wire their way down to the ground to mix it up with the droid front lines, instead of sniping from on high or coming in behidn them.

Despite the presence of tall buildings useful for spotting, it appears that the Separatists, with dozens and dozens of droids and multiple ubertall walking weapon platforms, surprised the Republic forces by walking up the road to within half a mile before anyone really got wind of their attack. Forces had been in buildings previously ("The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1]), but then they apparently just forgot to have folks there. For the second battle behind the shield this changed, fortunately.

But it is not a problem unique to the Republic forces. The Separatist forces retreat under a withering Republic cannonade because the alien commander is ignorant of the presence of the cannons even while having other Trade Federation tanks blown up by them right beside him. When he finally talks to a forward droid and learns of them, he orders a full retreat.

The advancing shield technique is interesting . . . we haven't seen that in Star Wars before.

The only defenses for the Separatist shield generator on Christophsis were some very large droids buried beneath the dirt, tripped by a rather obvious lit rod sticking up from the ground. The large droids, however, were only buried within pistol range of the shield generator, meaning that one could get extremely close without worrying about them. It was only because the Jedi had to plant charges directly on the shield generator unit that they encountered them at all.

The bit with Republic walkers scaling a wall is interesting, but the tactical utility of the whole operation is suspect. Scout troopers (in camouflage, but still with the funny hat brim on their helmets) had indicated that there was no way to land at the structure's top. However, we later see that there are multiple landing platforms with no more combat required than there was to scale the side. Further, even as they flew in the Republic soldiers ought to have noticed that they could just drop in at the front door. The losses incurred scaling the wall could not have been fewer than if they'd just dropped right in the middle of the show, or used sensors to find the other landing platform. Instead, R2 had to find reference to it in the location's computer system.

Jabba the Hutt allows Count Dooku to handle the Jedi "threat" with absolutely no oversight from Jabba. Thus Jabba misses the obvious treachery of Dooku.

Troop Armor

Clonetrooper helmets have a neck-hugging cover of some kind, as this Christophsis fighter demonstrates (note the shadow of the chin-piece on the bottom).



However, when another trooper's head is struck by weapons fire, his helmet comes off cleanly, exposing the bland interior of the helmet, along with what might be loose covering material around the base of the helmet.



Similarly, we'll see other troopers throughout the series with visible necks or else getting helmets knocked off easily.

Weapons - General

Republic forces have nice little remote-controlled detonation charges, which make a big ka-boom in sufficient numbers.

Weapons - Firepower

The massive Republic cannons have weak firepower. While quite capable of blowing up a Separatist tank, for instance, a tank almost touching it was unaffected, as were the droids standing atop it.




Similarly, blasts against assorted battle droids produce very limited casualties for similar blast effect. Below, for instance, we get two cannon shots. A total of ten . . . perhaps as many as a dozen . . . battle droids are apparently knocked out, but not destroyed or otherwise visibly impaired.








And this is one of the stronger anti-personnel shots in the show . . . earlier strikes against assorted battle droids were less impressive.

Comparing what we see in the show against hand grenade detonations and this car bomb, which looks far more powerful, the droid shots look closer to hand grenade territory. The car bomb was made with 136kg of ANFO explosive. Assuming a good TNT-equivalent mixture, the yield will be around 570 megajoules. The hand grenade, assuming a standard .25kg TNT load, will provide a yield of about one megajoule. I would definitely place the tank shots on the lower side of that scale . . . perhaps 50-100 megajoules, with the tank explosions enhanced by the tank's onboard explosives (e.g. fuel, tibanna, et cetera).

The Separatist Tri-Droid demonstrated firepower from its main guns approximately equivalent to the Heavy Cannon. (Clones were sent flying much more violently than droids were by the Republic gun, but the explosions did not appear as powerful.) Interestingly, the bolts could be deflected by Jedi.

There are instances of clones being flung backward by other weapon hits, which speaks well for SW firepower . . . but it appears that some of those shots came from the big Separatist walkers anyway. Oddly, however, no blaster-size guns appear in the locations from which the shots come. In other words, shots emerge from the Tri-Droid knee regions without a gun being there. Presumably this is confusion due to the shaky camera work in the charging scene.

Republic tanks can defeat a triplet of droidekas in a single shot, as seen on Teth when a single tank bolt defeated a triad in a single blast.

On Teth, continued fire from droid blaster rifles is sufficient to down a Vulture fighter/walker droid in walker mode.

On Teth, the forward weapons of Republic Gunships appeared capable of doing significant damage to the large Trade Federation landing craft as seen in TPM. However, these weapons also seemed to produce smaller blasts than Republic Heavy Cannon when used against a cluster of droids. A single hit to the head region did appear to take out a Vulture, however.

A spider droid can be destroyed by a standard Republic detonation charge.

Weapons - Range

The first battle we see on Christophsis (identified as the second wave) took place at a range of less than a kilometer. By the time everyone's started firing, the range appears to be less than half a kilometer for the closest forces. Similar ranges are seen in the second battle behind the shield.

The Tri-Droids and Republic Heavy Artillery Cannons show the best range, but still we don't see shots of more than two kilometers, if even more than one.

Apparently the shield generator is out of range of the Republic cannons, as it is never suggested to take a shot at it to disable it. The shield generator was within line of sight, not more than a handful of kilometers distant, and certainly not over the horizon.

Vehicles - Armored

Republic Heavy Artillery Cannons:
The Republic fields some incredibly huge artillery cannons, referred to at one point by Rex as "Heavy Cannons". all that remain to the Republic after the treachery of Slick in "The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1].


These guns are freaking massive. Look at the second gun from the left above, where the gunner is visible. If he stood, he would roughly reach the top of that rounded rectangular section. We can thus compare with the below:



So the barrels hanging off the front are probably about ten meters long and a meter wide at the tip, and that doesn't even account for the mass and girth of the roughly pyramid-shaped base. We've seen some Star Wars warships with cannons smaller than that. It's not clear why this would be so. You would expect the ground-based guns to be smaller, given the requirements of getting them landed. But perhaps mass and ground pressure were also important considerations. Incredibly, despite their apparent mass, the gunner actually sits out in the open, exposed to anything and everything, without so much as a glass enclosure to work with. The units are apparently unshielded, as well, meaning the gunner is completely unprotected.

The Republic artillery cannons also demonstrate some interesting behavior. For instance, when they fire we see smoke (much as we used to circa Episode IV when the blasters were firing blanks on the stage). That suggests either some sort of damage (e.g. the shell scraping the barrel or overheating some component) or simple consumables usage (e.g. needs oil) with each shot, or else there's an actual propellant in use to drive the galvened bolt out of the tube.Judging by the scenery change between the first battle and the last on Christophsis, the Heavy Cannons are mobile. They do have articulated legs used as recoil support, and the hip joints also allow for a range of motion, but we never saw them walking under their own power. Certainly the battle plans do not suggest such capability, instead treating the cannons as stationary defenses once they are placed. Presumably they are very slow even compared to the Separatist forces.

The Republic Gunships are invariably lacking the side-mounted laserbeam weapons seen in AotC. However, they do keep an appropriate cut-out on the hull as if the weapons could be mounted there.

AT-TEs are seen capable of simply walking up a rock wall.  This is accomplished by pushing their articulating toes into the side of the cliff.  There may also be some magnetism involved depending on how much metal was in the rock, as per the magnetic feet described in "Cargo of Doom"[TCW2], though one wonders just how much iron would have to be present for that to be significant.

Vehicles - Other

No Christophsian vehicles are seen.

Other Republic Gear

Some different Repuclic binoculars are seen. Rather than the usual Star Wars binoculars that are seemingly optical in design, Obi-Wan was using some that seemed to have a metallic front with no apparent objective lens of any kind.



A clone trooper is seen to use binoculars with a more normal design.



However, this same type is later seen in use by droids in "Liberty on Ryloth". Presumably this clone picked them up from a fallen droid. Interesting, in any case, that they can be used by both.

Other Confederacy Gear

Other Notes

The overall plot revolves around the retrieval of a kidnapped Hutt child, who happens to be Jabba's son, naturally. (Much as Star Trek had the universal law that all of the interesting stuff in the galaxy invariably happened around a ship named Enterprise, here we see a similar issue. That is, in a Republic with trillions of common folk and with uncounted quadrillions in the galaxy as a whole, there are only actually like a dozen interesting people.)

1. "Ambush"[TCW1]

"A galaxy divided by war! Peaceful worlds must choose sides or face the threat of invasion. Republic and Separatist armies vie for the allegiance of neutral planets. Desperate to build a Republic supply base on the system of Toydaria, Jedi Master Yoda travels to secret negotiations on a remote neutral moon."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Drive Systems - FTL

The Separatist Munificents make a very precise drop from hyperspace, with probable precision measured in the tens of meters, given that they arrived just a few hundred meters from the target. How far away their start point was is unclear, however. We know from the novelization of Revenge of the Sith that short jumps are possible, and given the lack of maneuvering in hyperspace it follows that shorter jumps are easier from a precision perspective.

Sensors

Left unclear is how the Munificents knew where and when to jump. We know from Revenge of the Sith that a lifeform in a pod can be detected at 150,000 kilometers. Presumably a larger (though still smallish) Republic cruiser could be detected at greater range by a greater ship, while the greater ship remains undetected, allowing for such a surprise jump at a range in the high hundred-thousands to millions of kilometers. It is also possible that sensor buoys were deployed to detect the Republic ship's arrival. We just don't know.

Stratego-Tactical

Two Separatist warships drop out of hyperspace right on top of the small Republic cruiser. This tactic is also seen in "Storm over Ryloth"[TCW1], but given the frequency of its use it appears to make for a good surprise tactic.

Warships and Spacecraft

The small Republic cruiser is referred to in the non-canon as the Consular class, said to be 115 meters long. The vessel is not especially nimble, it seems, but does the job. It has four four-meter-wide cylindrical escape pods which, given the floorspace, might be able to hold a dozen people. It looks designed for four, though, implying a likely crew of sixteen or less.

The Separatist warships are referred to in the non-canon as Munificent class and said to be 825 meters in length. Munificents are seen to be quite numerous in the CGI series. Referred to at times as battlecruisers or frigates (see 19 - "Storm over Ryloth"), the vessels are covered with guns but the ships are of a curious design lacking in internal volume.

Weapons - General

Flak bursts are observed from the Separatist ships at Rugosa, notably when firing on Yoda's escape pod.

Weapons - Firepower

Fire from two Munificents is enough to drive away a small Republic cruiser.

Weapons - Range

Gunnery aboard Confederate ships appears to be handled by your basic retarded battle droids. Weapons range on these ships is as limited. Right after the moment below, for instance, the clones report they they are out of range of the Munificents:



The Munificents had actually already stopped firing by this point, despite the intense Separatist desire to destroy the pod:



Missed shots from the cruisers also fly toward the moon (Rugosa), apparently with no effect upon it, and seemingly not hitting it at all. In one scene shortly before the escape pod exits weapons range of the Separatist Munificent Class ships, we do get a view of Yoda's escape pod from the rear with missed shots flying all around it. Some of these explode into flak bursts. That is all.

Ground Notes

Droids

A tank-commanding battle droid, complaining about the unfairness of its impending dispatch into oblivion, notes that it "just got promoted". This suggests that battle droids are not memory-wiped as certain other droids are (e.g. C-3PO), and presumably that they only receive as-necessary training.

A chain of three tanks approaches an impenetrable thicket of the local growth. In clear defiance of orders, one of the droid tank commanders sallies forth into the thicket, getting stuck in the process. Again we have droids, not as the ruthless, inhumanly efficient adversaries they could be, but as bumbling buffoons no better than humans.

Droideka shields are overwhelmed by a large mass of falling rock at the end of the episode.

Stratego-Tactical

Several of Yoda's maneuvers are quite clearly based on the presumption of utter stupidity on the part of droids. One maneuver involved getting between two droids and basically jumping up and down so that (1) they would fire on him despite having one another within their weapons' lines of sight and (2) they would miss the moving, jumping target and hit one another.

The best such case occurs later, when Yoda parks himself on the end of a tank's barrel so they will fire, knowing that they won't pay attention to what is behind Yoda . . . such as another tank. As Yoda jumps away, the shot goes right into the other tank's hull, destroying it.

Hiding behind a large boulder is sufficient cover against a force of several super battle droids.

Troop Armor

The Lieutenant's armor enables him to survive a super battle droid missile/torpedo strike against the ground near his feet, blowing him several feet back.  However, his leg is injured in some way, producing a limp.

Weapons - General

Clones are seen to have a rocket launcher and grenades.

Weapons - Firepower

The rocket launcher is actually fairly powerful, dislodging and cracking up a large rock feature which then crushed several destroyer droids.



Seppie tank shots were not very powerful. It would be an emotional experience to have one hit within ten to twenty feet of you, but it didn't look like it would necessarily have to be a lethal or even terribly painful experience. Separatist tank shots were, however, enough to destroy other Separatist tanks in a single shot.

Weapons - Range

Despite not being at a great range, Separatist tank fire failed to reach the Republic group. Yoda tells the clones not to worry, as they are out of the tanks' range.

Both clones and especially droids are again shown to be extraordinarily awful shots. Two clones and a batch of droids do battle at a range of less than ten meters . . . the droids probably fired fifty times and hit nothing. One droid fired for several seconds, first hitting a rock and then firing constantly about a foot to the left of a clone.

Other Republic Gear

One trooper featured a constantly-used pair of helmet-mounted binoculars, affording him enhanced vision and possible range-finding features.

Other Notes

Do not mess with Yoda.

2. "Rising Malevolence"[TCW1]

"The clone starfleet is under siege! Dozens of Republic warships have been destroyed in merciless surprise attacks that leave no survivors. Rumors spread of a terrible new Separatist weapon. In the face of growing fear, the Jedi Council sends Master Plo Koon to hunt down the menace before it strikes again."

Chronological Notes

This episode clearly occurs after the film, given Ahsoka's presence, and seems to be fairly soon after the film given the continued learning curve regarding basic interrelations between Anakin and Ahsoka.

Space Notes

Communications

After losing touch with Plo Koon, Anakin and Ahsoka walk back toward the C&C area behind the bridge.  This may suggest that they were able to use a separate holographic communication system toward the front of the bridge.

The Twilight gets a transmission while at Abregado without permission, and it is Obi-Wan asking where Anakin was.  While it's possible he transmitted to Abregado knowing full well where Anakin was, it's also conceivable that it was more a general broadcast, which would be interesting insofar as possible meanings for how the Holonet works are concerned.

Galactography

The Bith system is said to be "nearby" to Abregado by Plo Koon's clone officer.

What is the Abregado Object?

The Abregado system we're shown is a strange place.  The red object we see and that seems to be a light source is presumably a red dwarf, and yet it is small enough to be half-surrounded by Republic ship debris so dense the Twilight has to maneuver around it carefully, as per the area maps seen aboard the Malevolence.  The minimum size of a red dwarf as currently observed is about 14,000 kilometers.   We could also posit that the location is a huge mass of glowing magma, but even then we can't get much smaller than 900 kilometers, which is the point at which a perfect round shape is created by gravity.  However, in order for the place to get surrounded by debris of anything less than amounts sufficient to build the Death Stars III-MM (DS3 through DS2000), the Abregado Object couldn't be more than 30 kilometers or so in size.  (Less than that and pictures like the ones below of the Malevolence framed against the Abregado Object wouldn't make any sense.)

Stranger still is the evidence of atmosphere in the area of the Abregado Object.  (See "Other" below.)

Drive Systems - FTL

When the Twilight enters hyperspace (presumably from Bith), Ahsoka is in the right seat.  As they exit hyperspace in Abregado, she's in the rear left seat, implying some time has passed.

Drive Systems - STL

The escape pods feature four engines allowing them to jettison themselves from the ship.  The delta-v of these engines does not appear to be too high, though this might've been an effect of the ion cannon.

Power Systems

Ion cannons can disable the power systems of Republic warships, at least in part.  The very large ion cannon of the Malevolence disabled the entire task force under Plo Koon, and even the escape pods were affected.  However, in both cases some systems were functioning.  The Venators had some lights on, and the ignition system for the escape pods to depart the ship was working.  Some controls and screens were lit within the pod, and connecting up a couple of large cables allowed the pod to regain some power, presumably bypassing whatever part of the pod's power system was affected.

This implies that the ships and pods have assorted systems powered by different routes, and that the ion cannon might only be affecting certain types of tranducer or capacitor.  However, it does imply that most of the good stuff (e.g. engines, life support, communications, et cetera) is run off of whatever sort of technology it is that the ion cannon will affect.

Sensors

Twilight had to rig its sensors for lifesign detection, though they didn't detect Malevolence . . . which might be okay, really, because the only known lifeforms were Grievous (who's about a third of a lifeform) and Dooku, who's so old he might not count.  All kidding aside, though, detecting lifeforms seems to imply searching for what wants to be found.

Similarly, the Malevolence did not pick up the lifesigns of the Twilight crew.   This seems to imply that Star Wars sensor technology can be set both ways, but not both at the same time.   Curiously, a vessel as large as Malevolence should have supreme sensor capability doing all at once, but evidently they did not. 

Indeed, when the Malevolence was looking for its pod hunter, they were seemingly just awaiting a signal.  Grievous had to order the droid to stop waiting for a signal, instead commanding a reduction in speed and activation of the scanners.   This suggests that they were not really using scanners until that time.

Malevolence picked up anactive medical droid when all the other systems on the hiding Twilight were down to evade detection.  "We're picking up a faint signal," says a battle droid, "from a droid. Not one of ours. They're right behind us." It isn't clear what the signal was.

One commenter claimed that this case was evidence of detecting a droid's power emissions and then determining (from them or via a deeper scan) that the droid was not of the battle droid models.  While possible in this single episode's context, it seems off even within the episode given that the Separatists couldn't find the escape pods with their working comm systems.  And, looking at Star Wars as a whole, the concept seems way off.  After all, a later Imperial Star Destroyer failed to detect such power emissions or similar less "signal"-like emissions from R2-D2 and C-3PO while they were in an escape pod launched over Tatooine in ANH.

Thus, what seems more likely was that by "faint signal", the Malevolence battle droid meant "faint signal", such as the droid's equivalent of a Bluetooth connection to the ship, or another similar radio signal. 

Stratego-Tactical

The destruction of dozens of Republic ships is enough to place them "under seige", scaring them thoroughly. To be sure, this is an unscientific measure, but it hardly seems appropriate to assume, say, a million-ship navy if the loss of a double-digit number of vessels can put the whole warfleet on the defensive. That would be 0.0001 to 0.00001 of the fleet . . . that's 0.000001% and 0.0000001%, respectively! In the modern United States Navy, that would be akin to sinking about 1/36th of an average ship, or killing 33 Naval personnel. I hardly see the whole Navy considering itself "under seige" or otherwise freaking out.

Use of boarding craft and cutting-torch-equipped droids to search for escape pods is an odd move by the Separatists.  After all, it would seem that fighters would be suitably equipped for the task, and would be less likely to be exposed to damage compared to a slow space truck with droids floating outside of it manually hacking on the pods.

Warships and Spacecraft

Small vessels very similar to Separatist boarding craft (as seen in later episodes) are here used in the role of pod hunters, and are called such.  Instead of flying with the four forward cutting edges together and then opening them, the craft fly open and then close them around Republic escape pods, holding them in place.  It is also capable of applying crushing force.

Both escape pods and the pod hunter were destroyed completely by low-velocity (e.g. single-digit m/s) impacts with debris, resulting in explosions.   This is rather odd for the pod hunter, considering that as a boarding craft its entire purpose is to ram enemy ships at high speed.   However, it may be that the rear impact on the engine cluster is what caused the vessel to explode.

Below, we see an image of an enormous hollow tunnel within Malevolence used for the ion ring cannon weapon.  In the last episode of the trilogy we see another enormous hollow tunnel for interior cargo transport.   It is not beyond the pale to wonder just how much of the vessel is actually there, given that massive amounts of its internal volume are empty space.

Weapons - General

The Twilight is not equipped with a tractor beam.  Instead it has a tow cable mounted on the stern.

Ion cannons can disable the power systems of Republic warships, at least in part.  The very large ion cannon of the Malevolence disabled the entire task force under Plo Koon, and even the escape pods were affected.
Notably, the Venators had some lights on, and the ignition system for the escape pods to depart the ship was working.  Some controls and screens were lit within the pod, and connecting up a couple of large cables allowed the pod to regain some power, presumably bypassing whatever part of the pod's power system was affected.

This implies that the ships and pods have assorted systems powered by different routes, and that the ion cannon might only be affecting certain types of tranducer or capacitor, leaving some others intact.  Unfortunately for Plo Koon's fleet, however, whatever was intact was not terribly useful.

This ion cannon's power-up sequence is very similar in certain respects to the later Death Star superlaser, implying some commonality between the two particle weapons.   Interesting is the reference to energizing plasma rotors.



Malevolence guns and Munificent guns are of a different design, as seen by comparing Ambush with some gun shots from the Malevolence episodes:

Weapons - Firepower

Without shields, the Republic Venators were torn apart quickly by the many guns of the Malevolence.  It is not clear if the Malevolence guns are of a significantly different yield than, say, Munificent guns.

Weapons - Range

A Separatist warship and a small Republic force square off, holding position outside one another's weapons range:







Then, shortly before the Separatist warship is reported as beginning to close with the Republic ships, we see this:





That skinny shadow against the red dwarf is the Separatist warship Malevolence, estimate by some to be about eight kilometers in length, meaning we are not terribly far from it in the above shots, probably less than 200 kilometers. Indeed, using a quick version of the calculation method two from this Star Wars Weapons Range page and assuming the CGI artists aimed for camera behavior and appearance similar to the films, then the Malevolence distance would be 192 kilometers.

When the Separatist warship prepares to fire its funky ion cannon superweapon thingy, the Jedi Plo Koon aboard one of the Republic Venators desperately orders the ship to fire. The clone officer replies that they are "not in range yet".

So even against another large warship, their range is something less than 250 kilometers.

Other

The Venators are apparently jam-packed with equipment and pieces-parts given the amount of debris the ships produce. Some of this simply must be chalked up to other vessels, however, given how often large and identifiable sections of hull appear throughout the episode. There is simply too much debris for three cruisers to have produced.

Clones from the above-mentioned Republic ships were able to operate for a brief time in a low pressure environment. It was definitely not a vacuum given the light refraction from droid and vessel headlights. However, it was enough to result in death within seconds (with multiple lungfuls of screaming) for unprotected clone officers.



The medical droid that looked them over later said that the "pressure suits" provided "some protection" against the effects, but the clones were obviously not feeling well. The medical droid said they'd need a medical frigate for full recovery. The Jedi Plo Koon also said and demonstrated he was able to "withstand the pressure" for a brief time.  Barring some special and not-mentioned difference between the clone armor in this instance and regular clone armor, it seems that clone armor does have limited sealing capability.

Whether this applies to later Stormtrooper armor is unclear . . .given the usual capacity to see skin, I would assume that if the armor has such capabilities it requires some sort of extra equipment or special preparation.

The battle droids assigned to the pod hunting team displayed more intelligence than standard battle droids.  When Plo Koon begins his attack, those droids that survived longer than a few seconds used their thruster packs to withdraw behind the rim of their craft, thereby seeking cover.   That's more than can be said for most battle droids.

Ground Notes

Other Notes

Jedi Plo Koon also said and demonstrated he was able to "withstand the pressure" for a brief time. Whether this was a result of his assorted headgear or Jedi stuff is unclear.

Curiously, Grievous doesn't seem to cough in this episode.

3. "Shadow of Malevolence"[TCW1]

"A deadly weapon, unleashed! The Separatist battleship Malevolence advances unopposed through Republic space, tearing apart any ship that stands in its path. After a daring rescue and narrow escape, Anakin Skywalker prepares a counterattack on the enemy ship and its diabolical droid commander, General Grievous."

Chronological Notes

Second part of the Malevolence trilogy.  Appears to be very soon after "Rising Malevolence", but there is theoretically space for another adventure in between.

Space Notes

Communications

When we first see Malevolence in this episode, she is firing on Republic ships with Dooku watching via HoloNet. This means that (a) assuming the Malevolence shields were up, then again we have long-range communication through shields, contrary to the claim of some that the two are incompatible, and it also means (b) that Dooku, who was able to observe bridge activity, must've been watching in a non-standard way.  That is, as seen elsewhere, holocommunications usually involve one person watching a holographic figure of another person or people.  In this case, however, Dooku's observation suggests he was watching via a virtual reality chamber or Trek holodeck.

Dooku, using a handheld holoprojector, shows the Malevolence's next target to Grievous via HoloNet.  In other words, Grievous sees a hologram within a hologram, rather than having Dooku just switch images.   There was no apparent distortion or scan line interference with the nested hologram.

Dooku calls the Malevolence while the ship is in hyperspace to update them on the tactical situation at their next target.   (This is noteworthy as a profound override of the EU, which was pretty consistent in that FTL communication was not possible with FTL travel, which is a neat idea for storytelling purposes.)

Galactography

Ryndellia is a system near Naboo in the Outer Rim, and was the location of a Republic medical station.  Per Plo Koon, there are many star clusters in that area.   The opening attack on the medical transport convoy is said by Yularen to have occurred "near Ryndellia".   Due to the navigational hazards of the star cluster, the Malevolence must plot a course of ten parsecs to get to Ryndellia itself.   When the medical station is warned, it is said that Naboo is sending ships to help with the evacuation.  This implies that Naboo is closer than ten parsecs, and thus that Ryndellia is near Tatooine and also near Geonosis.

As we know, the Outer Rim is not necessarily the outer rim of the galaxy, and this supports such an idea.  After all, stellar density is low in the real galactic outer rim, and so to have numerous star clusters in the outer rim itself would be very odd, not to mention the whole "beyond the outer rim" we so often hear of (e.g. Rishi, et cetera).

Drive Systems - FTL

We get something really fascinating in this episode:


For the first time, we hear that navigational hazards like stars have a wide-ranging effect, one that is possibly cumulative.  For instance, we learned in the first Star Wars novelization that a planet's gravity well prevented hyperdrive use within a certain distance from a planet, and it would also make sense that this would be the case with a star, as well.  However, the mere existence of multiple stars together means that a massive ship like Malevolence must completely go around the star clusters, traveling further to get to the same place that a smaller ship could get to with a more direct route. 

By analogy, normal hyperspace lanes would normally be like an eight-lane superhighway that any mammoth ship can travel on, but the star clusters winnow that down into downtown Manhatten in rush hour . . . only bike messengers and pedestrians can get through.

Navigational hazards thus seem to affect the larger ship that much more. Whereas a smaller ship might be able to plot jumps that enable it to squeeze closer to or even between the star clusters in a survivable fashion (albeit with likely stress), the sheer bulk of the Malevolence means it has to just go well around the whole thing. The general theory we could draw out is that stuff in realspace might produce effects on hyperspace vessels passing through -- effects spreading out much further than the realspace item. Much as hitting something can destroy a hyperdriven vessel, the gravitational complexities of star clusters might be enough to disrupt a ship's hyperdrive, especially in the case of larger vessels.

This does have interesting implications for a vessel the size of, say, the Death Star.

Regarding the actual trip, the Malevolence takes a great deal of time to go those ten parsecs, including a parsec-long course to avoid the Balmorra nebula . . . it is not clear how much of this nebula Anakin's bomber group had to cross, given that they crossed at sublight whereas the image below suggests a light-year-wide nebula (or at least, a light-year-wide danger zone).



When the Malevolence is damaged, it is reported that its hyperdrive is disabled.  "Impossible," says Grievous.   It is not clear why he thinks this is so.

Sensors

Y-Wing sensors are able to detect the Malevolence coming out of hyperspace a few seconds before it appears.   Whether this is normal or a result of the bulk of the Malevolence is unknown.

Defense Systems

Skywalker's plan to attack the Malevolence involved a "squad" of about a dozen Y-Wing bombers attacking the bridge tower.  Skywalker therefore clearly believed that a dozen bombers could overwhelm the shields and armor of a fully armed and operational dreadnought like Malevolence, at least in a particular area.

Again there is no evidence of shields having any effect against the ion ring cannon.

Y-Wings may or may not be shielded . . . it is unclear.   A Y-Wing was damaged by impact with the Neebray mantas that inhabited the Balmorra nebula, either implying that they can't use deflector shields in the nebula or that they do not protect against kinetic impact.

Space Facilities

Dooku describes the Republic medical base at Ryndellia as "the Republic's secret Outer Rim medical station."

Warships and Spacecraft

Y-Wing type ships are seen in this episode and referred to specifically as bombers.   Interestingly, they feature hyperdrives.  The ship's enclosed volume is such that this makes some sense, but with some of the larger fighters not being tremendously smaller (e.g. the ARC-170 asterisk-wing from RotS), their lack of hyperdrive is interesting.

Malevolence is seen to carry fighters for the first time.   Given the ion weapon the use of fighters is generally not needed, though when they suspected last episode that someone had destroyed their pod hunter it would've made sense.

Malevolence deploys about a dozen fighters against Anakin's Y-Wings.   Presumably this was simply to delay them while he charged the ion cannon, since tactically it would follow that Y-Wings with turrets on them ought to be more than capable of dispatching a fighter one-on-one.   However, Ahsoka notes that Anakin's flying is making targeting with the turret difficult.

Weapons - Range

Even from point-blank range, the majority of shots from the Malevolence miss when engaged with a lone Republic transport.  Even when engaged with Republic cruisers at the start of the episode that were even closer, a huge percentage of shots miss.   Or, as one doomed droid states, "I still can't seem to hit anything".

Other

"Grievous, those battle droids are expensive," says Dooku after Grievous destroys one that couldn't shoot straight.  So while they are considered expendable to a degree, there are limits to that concept.

We're told that at the Ryndellia base, many of the men in bacta tanks couldn't be moved at all.

Ground Notes

Other Notes

Grievous coughs the very first time we see him in this episode, as opposed to the last episode when we had not seen him cough at all.

"I feel very confident leaving the ship under your command," says Dooku, which is odd since just last episode he was most upset over what he considered a failure on the part of Grievous to stop the Twilight.

One wonders if this is somehow related to the coughing.

4. "Destroy Malevolence"[TCW1]

"Grievous in retreat! Before the battleship Malevolence could destroy an Outer Rim clone medical base, a Republic strike force, under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, crippled the warship, disabling its dreaded ion cannon. Now the Jedi relentlessly pursue the Malevolence."

Chronological Notes

Third part of the Malevolence trilogy, direct follow-on to "Shadow of Malevolence", occurring some short time thereafter.

"Do not compound your failure this day by allowing our prize warship to fall."   That is what Dooku tells Grievous.  Considering that just last episode Dooku was quite confident in Grievous (whereas in the episode before he was upset at a separate failure), it stands to reason that at least one if not several days have passed since the initial episode of the trilogy.

Space Notes

Communications

Jedi gauntlet communicators is able to allow two-way communication with the Republic fleet while within Malevolence, at least until the droids finally begin jamming.

Via holocomm with Republic ships nearby, Grievous makes note of a "secret base in Sector 4".  Evidently he did not feel that the Republic ships could eavesdrop on him, though he had just eavesdropped on the gauntlet communicators earlier.

Galactography

A blue moon appears along the Malevolence course away from the Ryndellia base, and it is the final resting place of the ship.

Drive Systems - FTL

Anakin programs the Malevolence nav computer to hyperjump toward a moon. The Mal zips toward the moon and goes boom in a very large white flash that persists for several seconds at least. We do not see the moon again to see the damage, but given that the flash covered at least ten percent of the surface for several seconds (down from a maximum of a third), it is likely there is a very impressive crater.









There may be a high-end speed argument from the episode given Amidala's sudden arrival, but the timeline of her departure (not to mention her origin point) is unclear. Her dispatch may have been an existing plan given the prior episode's mention of foreknowledge of a Jedi strike on Malevolence. Otherwise, it would imply another day trip to a nearby system, a la AotC.

Power Systems

Amidala overloads the "power system" of the Naboo ship, and a battle droid says that the vessel's "engines are set to destroy themselves".  The resulting explosion is sub-kiloton, but destroys the ship fairly well.   However, in an intelligence-gathering situation, a more impressive self-destruct would be needed.








Note that Amidala was safe enough hiding behind crates.

Sensors

Anakin states that the enemy sensors are obviously damaged.  However, the Malevolence had just quickly snared Amidala's Naboo ship, leaving this a curious belief.

Republic scans are able to penetrate the hull of Malevolence, showing its hollow interior railway area.

Malevolence appears to have limited internal sensors, but we can chalk this up to damage.

Defense Systems

Malevolence is said to have lost its primary shield (the only time we get any evidence Malevolence even has shields), but is so massive that the Republic ships can't damage it significantly.

Stratego-Tactical

Star Wars powers seem fervent in their belief in large single combat vessels, as seen both regarding the Malevolence and, in its fullest flower, the Death Stars. 

Warships and Spacecraft

The Malevolence is so damaged by the overload of her main ion weapons that even the landing bay Amidala is pulled into, referred to as the main hangar by Grievous, has several areas on fire.

The Malevolence is so large it has an extensive rail system running throughout a cavernous area of the interior and into adjoining tubes. This cavernous area is built with a large A-frame type ceiling, and there are what appear to be large superstructure frame members cris-crossing it throughout.  

When Grievous boards one of the trains an automated voice says "railjet departing".  It also says "mind the gap", reminding one of London subways.  Also, the railjet cars are linked by those little lightning-looking power couplings, similar to what held the racing pods together in Episode I.

Grievous has his awesome fighter already even this early in the war.

Weapons - General

The Malevolence tractor beam is invisible as Star Wars tractor beams always seem to be.   It is able to bring the Naboo ship to a dead stop within one second, slowing it from a relative speed of up to 1 kilometer per second.  The true speed is difficult to determine, but 1km/s is a rough upper limit.  The true value is probably closer to around 300 meters per second, give or take, judging roughly from hull details in comparison to a presumed 8km length for the ship.

Weapons - Firepower

We're explicitly told that the Venator group simply cannot destroy a ship that large.

Weapons - Range

Much as the droids couldn't seem to hit anything, clones are little better.   As the Malevolence lumbers away with the Republic ships maybe a handful of kilometers behind, several heavy turbolaser shots miss the Malevolence completely.





Later, the Venators target the bridge with maximum firepower, and I don't remember seeing more than one shot hit the whole bridge tower (and that with little more effect than RotS firepower in the Invisible Hand broadside exchange).   The rest of the shots missed the bridge tower completely. 











That's rather alarming, since it would imply that a ship the size of the bridge tower would also be missed completely, even if it were relatively stationary compared to the Venators.   

Therefore, a highly maneuverable warship would seemingly be able to destroy Venators from close range with impunity.

Vessel Security

After Amidala's ship is captured, she and 3PO are able to sneak off of it while in a large and open hangar by crawling out through the forward landing leg bay instead of the main egress.

Comm station traffic is not recorded even on Separatist warships, though one can set up to do so.   The event of an unauthorized communication (by Amidala) was detected, but no recording or eavesdropping occurred.   This is a remarkably open-society sort of thinking in play regarding a frontline Separatist warship . . . soft security, in other words.

An enemy ship docks with Malevolence and enemy Republic forces board the vessel through the airlock, only meeting two unarmed droids.  Although this could be chalked up to the ship's damage, the fact is that we'll see weak Separatist airlock security again in "Dooku Captured", meaning it is a standard operating procedure to leave airlocks seemingly unlocked and unguarded.

Not only does Anakin program the navicomputer on the Malevolence without incident, but Amidala is able to access the Malevolence comm system and talk to the Venators without incident.  This implies rather poor computer security aboard Separatist vessels.   The same sort of thing occurs in reference to the controlled crash of the Invisible Hand in RotS (e.g. Anakin could control the ship and was not locked out), implying that the Separatists never improved.

Ground Notes

(Though there are no ground scenes per se, I include these references here as they refer to droids specifically . . . forgive the small organizational breakdown this represents.)

Droids

3PO takes a couple of bodyblows that really ought to have left him in tiny pieces. One might have explanation via the Force, when he takes a direct hit from a train while Obi-Wan is trying to Force pull him, but the second affords no such excuse.   A similar train-hit with a stationary battle droid destroys the droid completely later in the episode.

Droid accuracy against targets standing still and within a dozen meters is atrocious as ever.  However, the missed shots were consistently wrong.

Amazingly, a type of super battle droid comes equipped with what appears to be a proton torpedo launcher.

Weapons - Firepower

Droid-fired proton torpedo firepower is seen to be somewhat impressive given the size of the torpedo, though I don't think it compares to droid bomber munitions from Liberty on Ryloth.




Droideka weapons can be held at bay by Separatist packing crates, as seen when Anakin uses the Force to move some into the firing line.

Other Notes

Force push works against shielded droidekas, though interestingly Obi-Wan declines the opportunity to try his lightsaber against the same shield.

5. "Rookies"[TCW1]

"Clone forces rally! As the war escalates in the Outer Rim, the Jedi Knights are spread thinly across the galaxy. Many new clones are rushed into service to support their Jedi generals. Unfortunately, because of the relentless demands of battle, many young clones must join the struggle before their intensive training has been completed. These clones, manning a vital network of tracking stations, are all that stand between the Republic and invasion."

Chronological Notes

The war is escalating in the Outer Rim, implying that the Jedi have the foothold that was eluding them at the time of the film.

Space Notes

Communications

The Republic has an analog of the American "Armed Forces Radio", a broadcast to the troops.  Called "The Grand Army of the Republic Broadcast", it also features music, and there's a hologram transmission of a female-looking droid of some kind.

Though the Outer Rim tracking stations plus the usual conversation-quality interstellar transmissions imply real-time communication, the fact that the station's all-clear signal was temporarily deactivated without incident implies some sort of polling in use and not a constant signal.

Galactography

Kamino is said to be very near the Outer Rim (just beyond it, per AotC).  The episode's center of action occurs in a tracking station in the Outer Rim, noted as an outpost in the Rishi system.   Thus the Rishi Maze mentioned in AotC would most likely be within or very near this system, and per AotC that Rishi Maze is some 12 parsecs from Kamino.

Rex states that the only target of interest in this sector is Kamino.   This implies that a sector is at least 12 parsecs in diameter.

Drive Systems - FTL

The existence of a tracking station network suggests either limited jump range for hyperdrives (e.g. FTL propulsion require rest stops) or that, contrary to what Han Solo said, one can track ships (or at least fleets)  accurately in hyperspace.

A very rapid response to the tracking station's all-clear signal disruption occurs in this episode, as a force of Venators appears almost immediately.  However, Cody and Rex were many hours overdue on reporting back to base as of mid-episode, and the Republic fleet's location at that point appeared to be deep space somewhere.  Thus, they may have been extremely close.

We get a very interesting look at ships entering hyperspace from below . . . usually we've always seen the event with the camera roughly parallel to the ship.   No real surprises . . . just ships zooming away all of the sudden.

Sensors

The existence of a tracking station network suggests either limited jump range for hyperdrives (e.g. FTL propulsion require rest stops) or that, contrary to what Han Solo said, one can track ships accurately in hyperspace.

In any case, this tracking station was unable to detect that a ship apparently dropped off fake meteors in the system, that they were fake meteors, or any other details that might've been of value.

Grievous was able to observe the Rishi base from his ship, meaning a very good orbital camera was in use.  One wonders why their weapons are not using that same targeting apparatus.

Defense Systems

Interestingly, the base's screen that showed meteors approaching looked like it showed meteors and the planet in space.   When the order to raise shields was given, the entire planet was enclosed by a new circle.  However, as shown, the shield only covered the base itself.   A planet-enshrouding facility would have been handy, but would've rendered the story impossible.

Space Facilities

No static space facilities appear in this episode.  Even the tracking station seems to be completely planetside, which seems an odd choice for a station meant to track ships . . . by definition, a planetside surface base can see no more than what's above it, and Star Wars sensors have never been known to allow detection of objects behind planets.

Stratego-Tactical

If Kamino were destroyed, it would "stop their production of clones for good".  In concert with other references, it is strongly implied that Kamino is the sole source of clones for the entire Republic.   And yet there is one single tracking station with a handful of clones in the Outer Rim observing enemy fleet movements near Kamino, and per the clones themselves "if the droids get past this station, they can surprise-attack the facilities where we were born on our homeworld of Kamino."   

In fairness, this is probably still only a few months into the war and thus other cloning facilities may not have been set up, but it is quite alarming that Kamino wasn't better defended.  Its location being deleted from the Jedi Archives prior to AotC is a terribly limited defense, given that its existence was known among others in the galaxy (e.g. Dex of Dex's Diner on Coruscant).

Warships and Spacecraft

The Separatist fleet that arrived at Rishi consisted of nine Separatist Munificents and two previously unseen Trade Federation ships.  Though similar in appearance to Trade Federation battleships, these vessels do not appear to be significantly longer than the Munificents.  We see them both from below in a formation with Munificents and, moments later, as most certainly being within the Munificent cluster.  There is no other known information about this class, and it is seen from too far away to see how (if at all) its surface details differ from those of the battleship.  Presumably, however, they are merely transport vessels, as Munificents are slender, skinny, and with a remarkably open and spindly structure, resulting in very small internal volume for the ship's length.

When the Republic fleet of six Venators arrives at Rishi, Grievous states "we're outgunned".  His force consisted of nine Separatist Munificents and two Trade Federation ships.

Weapons - Range

Venators dropped out of hyperspace at a range of a handful of kilometers and were able to open fire almost immediately.

Ground Notes

Communications

Different clone groups have different scramble codes, resulting in an inability of the Rishi base clones to communicate with Cody and Rex.

Droid attack flares can be fired upward to indicate distress.

Defense Systems

The base's bubble-style shields are raised for the "meteor shower", but this apparently does nothing to prevent commando droids from reaching the door to the base.

The droids take over the base, but apparently do not raise the base shields at any point.

Droids

Even these commando droids, which appear smarter than normal battle droids, come to the ridiculous conclusion that the nearby destruction of a ship must've resulted in the pulverization of a pair of clones hiding behind boxes several meters away, despite the non-existence of any trace evidence of their corpses or armor, not to mention the fact that exposed droids closer to the blast were unharmed nor even knocked down.   And, of course, they are later spoofed by a clone who merely holds up the head of one of the droids in front of a camera, at which point the droids open the door and get shot down.

Commando droids are able to replicate the voice of a clone, albeit with some variation.

A commando droid takes a shot to the crotch and chest, and is able to quickly recover and keep firing.  However, headshots seem to bring them down, and the movie-style neckbreak maneuver is also effective.

Commando droid aim seems not terribly improved from stock battle droids, as despite having Rex and Cody surrounded, surprised, and in the clear they are unable to hit them.   Even when Rex and Cody take cover, one of them is completely exposed to fire from a nearby commando droid who fails to hit him despite repeated attempts.

Facilities

The ground-based tracking station is the focal point of the episode.  It seems curious to put a tracking station of this nature on the ground, however, since with a planet on the bottom the field of view must be quite limited.  The station is said to have a winter, implying revolution of the world about a sun, but we never see daylight and thus there may not be any rotation.

Power Systems

Tibanna!   The base uses liquid tibanna for heating, because the moon freezes for half the year.   This implies that the standard power systems of the base are unable to generate enough heat, and/or that the normal heater units of the base are inadequate.

Tibanna is considered highly explosive.  Three refrigerator-size containers are sufficient to destroy the Rishi outpost from within.

Sensors

At no point does the base seem to have any sensors that scan the immediate surroundings for droids or lifesigns.   Even the deck officer, a guy standing outside the front door, is merely using helmet-mounted binoculars and his eyeballs, and when the droids take the base they fail to detect the movement of the clones.

Stratego-Tactical

No one watches the watcher.   That is to say, the deck officer stands around outside with no observation from elsewhere.

Troop Armor

"Keep your heads down and your seals tight, boys."   So says the announcer on the Grand Army of the Republic audio broadcast.  This implies seals (presumably on armor) in use by the group known as "the Mud-Jumpers of the 224th, slugging it out on Mimban".

Rex's blaster shoots clean through a clone helmet and into the head of the droid beneath at close range, though there is no evidence of an exit mark.

Hevy takes two droid hits in the back from up to ten meters away, on the thickest "backpack" part of the armor, and lives.  At least until he commits suicide.

Weapons - General

Droids employ some sort of grenade, or possibly a thermal detonator.

One droid makes use of a sword, seemingly made of the same material as the droid's own outer shell.  A second droid is seen to be in possession of one, also, and it seems to be commanders who have them.

Droids cut through a door with an unknown device, leaving a molten ring.

Hevy has a gatling-style blaster weapon which apparently runs out of ammo.  However, when he first uses the weapon he fires close to fifty shots within ten seconds, so by the time he runs out of ammo he's probably fired 500 shots or more.

We get to see a detonator device, in the classic sense.  The device is about the size of a first generation Amazon Kindle.   You can link two of them to create a remote detonation system, though in this episode the maneuver does not work and the clones are unable to make it work in the time allowed.  The device can be affixed to whatever you want to detonate, presumably via some onboard system (e.g. a magnet or adhesive on the back).   Interestingly, this same device will be seen in use as a data pad on the Trade Federation battleship blockading Ryloth in "Storm Over Ryloth".  This may imply that the unit was merely a common handheld computer device (like a Pocket PC or PalmPilot with wireless connection), networkable, somehow linked to an actual explosive, and not a real detonator in its own right.

Weapons - Firepower

Rex's blaster shoots clean through a clone helmet and into the head of the droid beneath, though there is no evidence of an exit mark.

The droid grenade-style device is, when four of them are employed underneath a wing, capable of causing the destruction of a Republic shuttle.

Hevy takes two droid hits in the back, on the thickest "backpack" part of the armor, and lives.  At least until he commits suicide.

Weapons - Range

Clone accuracy seems very good during the retaking of the base, though this may be largely due to the seasoned Rex and Cody.

Other Confederacy Gear

Something akin to a taser is employed against the base's clone deck officer, though given the lightning effect and the scream one wonders how this would be any less obvious than just blasting him.

Other Notes

More than once clones refer to the presence of Jedi as helpful.

6. "Downfall of a Droid"[TCW1]

"After suffering a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of General Grievous, the Republic's foothold in the Outer Rim is in jeopardy. Commissioned to protect the strategic world of Bothawui, Anakin Skywalker and his weary battle group are all that stands between the system and domination by the droid army."

(According to TCW production staff, this episode features some of their earliest CGI work.  It varies noticably from the rest of the series.)

Chronological Notes

Definitely occurs after the film . . . they have Ashoka and also a foothold in the Outer Rim, something eluding them at the time of the film.

Space Notes

Communications

Anakin displays tanks to Obi-Wan as he explains that he has a way to beat Grievous at his own game.  Evidently Separatist eavesdropping on HoloNet communications was not something he was worried about . . .

 . . . until a while later (13 minutes or so of episode time, and who knows how long in-universe time), when Obi-Wan tells Anakin:  "Our intelligence has confirmed that Grievous' spies have been intercepting our transmissions."   Evidently this data cannot be accessed in realtime or even close to realtime, since otherwise Grievous would not have been surprised by the tanks.

The Jedi fighters have a tracking beacon on-board, but like a distress signal it can be heard by both sides.

Galactography

Bothawui is the ringed world seen in the episode, and is noted as a strategic world in the Outer Rim.   Had Skywalker run away, the entire sector would've been in the hands of the Separatists.

Falleen is said to have been the site of a battle group loss, presumably another Outer Rim location.

Skywalker's ships are sent in search of a Separatist listening post believed to be somewhere in the area.  Skywalker says he'll sweep "the outer corridor", suggestive of a hyperlane.

Drive Systems - FTL

Grievous's fighter takes some time to power up for a hyperspace jump after his emergency departure from the doomed Munificent.

Drive Systems - STL

The engines of Anakin's fighter are said to be boosted, but there is never any indication of high acceleration on the part of the fighter. Indeed, considering the low range between the capital ships, the length of time it takes Anakin to get to the Munificents is alarmingly slow.

Sensors

As the fleets get closer, a clone on the Resolute bridge reports that the enemy is at Zone 6, then Zone 5, then Zone 4. This appears to be a range indication.

The Munificents, ready for battle, fail to detect the power signatures of Republic tanks or the lifeform readings of the Republic clones manning them when they are on the other side of sub-kilometer asteroids.

Defense Systems

In a move unfortunately not kept for later-CGI episodes, this early CGI work features the use of blue shield flashes when enemy ships strike the Republic cruisers.  The damaged Republic cruiser has fireballs on her hull, a clue that her shields are weakened or down.

The Munificents move through the rocks of the rings to get to the Jedi cruisers. Two large solid rocky bodies are struck by the lead ship, prompting Grievous to order all power to forward shields. As associate l33telboi puts it, "All in all, you would be hard pressed to get the energy involved in this incident beyond the terajoule range (more likely it would be either in the double-digit gigajoule or triple-digit gigajoule range). However, in terms of capital ships withstanding impacts from solid objects, this is more impressive then what we usually see in visual Sci-fi. It’s also worth noting that when it comes to high mass and low velocity impacts like this, momentum becomes an issue. But on the other hand the episode also shows us that it's not the momentum that causes the problem, but rather the kinetic energy. Why project shields double-front if the shield generator and its capacity to deal with momentum is the weak link?"

More generally, if impacts of this size are worth avoiding by having shields double-front, then Star Wars ships are not virtually invincible as some would argue.

Speaking of which, observe as tank fire is used to spank explicitly unshielded Munificents:



This was the show's "WTF" moment. Never would I have expected tanks to be able to shoot down even an unshielded Munificent, especially given the tank firepower seen in other episodes. As multiple tanks open fire the tail section of the Separatist ship is torn up and the ship veers off course. Later, a tank shot is implied to break a Muni in half. Just imagine what those huge-but-weak artillery cannons from the movie would've done.  (Also note that with the CGI used for this episode, the multi-point starburst patterns beneath the engines are actually weapon impact flashes, not engines.  A similar pattern is seen for weapon firing.)

Also disquieting is the fact that fighter weapons are easily able to penetrate the expansive bridge windows of the Separatist warships.

Jedi fighters (specifically the Delta-7 Aethersprite variety) may not be shielded, it seems.  When flying past an explosion on a Munificent, Anakin's fighter gets a blade of shrapnel lodged in the starboard wing, later causing the fighter to suffer its own explosion.   Anakin is nearly killed in the process.

The Twilight slips between the wings of two Munificents that had inexplicably set themselves on a sideslip collision course with one another, producing a shower of sparks suggestive of metal-on-metal contact.  Vulture fighters that run the same shrinking gauntlet are not so lucky, and either lose control or become dismantled altogether.  The Munificents collide,

Stratego-Tactical

"Our spies were right, General.  The Jedi have positioned a fleet beyond the planetary rings."  So says a droid on the flagship of Grievous.  There is no other information given about who the spies were or how they were able to transmit information regarding the location of the Republic battle group.

Grievous is attacking with six Munificents against three Republic Venators, and Ahsoka says they're outgunned.  Compare with the prior episode, however, when nine Munificents had six Venators in front of them and Grievous complained that he was outgunned.  Apparently 1.5 Munificents to 1 Venator is a clear Venator win, but 2 Munificents to 1 Venator is considered good for the Munificents.   That seems like an awfully narrow swing.

Grievous: "If we attack from above, they will have the advantage." This seems to support the idea that the Venators might have a chance to at least deal serious blows to the Munificent fleet.

"We're going right between those tin cans," says Ahsoka, which is completely absurd given that the mission had already been accomplished, unless the navicomputer still had not calculated a return vector hyperspace jump.

Warships and Spacecraft

Grievous is again seen in his spiffy art deco fighter that we first saw in RotS as he departs his Munificent. 

Munificents, despite their small volume, do have a hangar (as the upper note demonstrates).  When Grievous demands that everything be launched against Skywalker, we see at least 12 Vulture droid fighters, and perhaps as many as 20.

Three Republic ships are considered a fleet, though in the opening narration it is called a battle group.

Weapons - Firepower

Fighter refire rates are extremely good in this episode . . . approaching beam weapon designation rather than bolts . . . apparently a result of the earlier animation style.

Anakin's fighter blasters are able to blast a Munificent bridge, crashing through the windows and causing a devastating internal explosion that would easily have killed any human bridge crew. His first dual shots blow one of the window panels (similar to the RotS design of the Invisible Hand's bridge). The second pair of bolts start an explosion on the starboard side. The third pair seem to miss and disappear. The fourth pair appear to hit, but with unclear effect. Meanwhile the explosion on the bridge remains contained for a time, but then expands toward the ship's portside and eventually starts emerging from the destroyed window, as well as causing the blow-out of most (if not all) remaining window panes.

Anakin's fighter blasters are able to blast the lower pylon of a Munificent, presumably through windows again, producing another large explosion.

Two direct hits from a Munificent against a Jedi fighter's hyperspace ring do break apart the ring structure, but it is still recognizable as a hyperspace ring.

Weapons - Range

Space combat ranges seem short at first, but upon review are actually quite long in this episode. The Munificents approach toward the ringed planet with the three cruisers apparently visible as bright pinpricks in the distance, implying a range of only around 5,000 kilometers at that point:

Later, with the Munificents about to start their approach through the rocks of the rings, the Jedi cruisers are visible out of the lead ship's window, at a range in the low hundreds of kilometers at best. Still there is no firing until much later.



However, when the Munies are emerging from the rings, we see an exterior view toward the Republic ships. They now appear to be distant dagger-shapes, implying a distance of several hundred kilometers:



Later as fire is being exchanged we see one of the longest-range space battles of Star Wars . . the scene is of Anakin flying away from the Jedi cruisers, and the camera pans around and circles behind him as he flies toward the Separatist ships. The separation between the two fleets could be above 200 kilometers in that scene.



However, later, Munificents drop in to within a handful of kilometers of a stationary Jedi fighter with hyperspace ring attached, and open fire.  They are unable to hit the fighter in their initial two dozen shots, despite the element of surprise.  Later, when the hyperspace ring is dropped away, though, the first two shots miss but the second two shots score at least one if not two hits on the ring, exploding its upper section.   A second hit then occurs, obliterating the remaining central fighter connection.

Ground Notes

Other Notes

7. "Duel of the Droids"[TCW1]

"Missing in action! Anakin Skywalker's heroic droid navigator R2-D2 was lost in battle. When a desperate search fails to locate Artoo, Anakin is forced to take on a new navigator, R3-S6. Now the Jedi embark on a dangerous new mission, to find a secret enemy listening post. Meanwhile, R2-D2 has fallen into the hands of a vile droid smuggler and is on his way to General Grievous who will surely plunder the Republic's secrets hidden within him."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Communications

Gha Nachkt, the Trandoshan scavenger, has a big dish atop his ship.   As strongly suggested when R2 hacks in and sends a message, that dish is used for transmitting interstellar signals.   This gives us a clue as to what the dish could be used for on other similar vessels.

Aboard Twilight and while within the same system, Ahsoka is able to pick up a lot of encrypted chatter from the listening post.

Galactography

Closed captioning suggests that the listening post is at the "Ruusan moon".

Power Systems

When the reactor is destroyed, the antigravs lose power immediately, and a wide variety of other explosions are seen across the sphere.

Sensors

"Keep jamming their scanners.  If they spot us, we're dead."   This implies that sensor jamming is a sneaky affair not likely to be picked up by the one being jammed, as we also saw in RotJ.  Compare this to most 20th Century jamming techniques which generally gave away the fact of jamming, whether by range-spoofing (meaning they've still detected you, they just don't know where precisely you are) or just trying to blind the jammed device with lots of whatever signal it sought.  

Presumably the jamming is a highly localized phenomenon, almost like a sensor-only cloaking device, since otherwise the one being jammed would lose sensor information on other nearby things and know there was jamming afoot. 

A simple solution based on real-world information is simply that the Twilight intercepted whatever sensor signal came its way and sent back whatever sort of signal could mean "nobody here" . . . that is, they made their immediate area look like empty space or a stray proton or something.   But such a thing would be impossible with simple radar or lidar systems, since the only way to send back "nobody here" is to send back nothing at all . . . i.e. absorbing the signal.

Alternately, a very advanced emitter array could possibly try to reduce or eliminate a sensor signal by trying to actually interfere with any returning photons, in the vein of noise-cancelling headphones (excepting that we can see the ship) or even something more esoteric like a quantum eraser.   Then again, given that Separatist ships can be approached and boarded by a guy in a spacesuit ("Dooku Captured"[TCW1]), there are limits to how much credit we can give their sensors anyway, even if it is a secret listening post that ought to be monitoring its area carefully to avoid detection.

In any case, the Twilight does approach to within a kilometer or two of the battlesphere, directly above it and well within visual range, so it is clear that the Separatist sensor systems are very poor provided you have the required jamming equipment.  That is to say, despite the existence of jamming they seem to have no simple passive sensor systems apparent, such as eyeballs or camera suites with computer analysis of the images.  This is a common problem in science fiction.

The pickup at the end of the mission involves the Twilight simply parking in one of the battlesphere's landing bays.

Clones from the Twilight use jetpacks when soft-landing on the battlesphere hull.   Much as Obi-Wan was able to sneak aboard a Munificent, jetpacks seem to be below the threshold of their usual sensors.

Defense Systems

When the scavenger ship arrives at the battlesphere, the scavenger requests shields be lowered so he can enter the landing bay.  However, as seen later, Jedi, clones, and droids can all make direct contact with the hull without incident.   And, of course, Anakin cuts a hole directly into the hull without impediment.

It's conceivable that the only shields the scavenger Gha Nachkt referred to were those covering the landing bay,  similar to what Obi-Wan referred to in Episode III.   However, no Trade Federation ships (nor any others, for that matter) have been observed to have matter-blocking shields over their landing bays like the Invisible Hand did.  Supporting the idea, though, is the droid referring to the moist environment while he's within the battlesphere.  This would support the concept of a great deal of air exchange going on.
Space Facilities
The Separatist battlesphere is presumably a mostly-stationary facility, rather than a ship.  Like the central spheres of Trade Federation battleships it might be able to make orbit, but it seems likely that the sphere was dropped off by the ring section of a battleship.   In any case, it does not have regular STL engines, since once the antigravs shut down the thing drops like a rock.

The battlesphere carries more of what the EU calls Utapaun P-38s, so again (in addition to the movie) we have evidence that these are not Utapau ships.

Warships and Spacecraft

Obi-Wan refers to sending two "mainline cruisers" to help destroy the sphere, presumably referring to Venators as such.   Interesting that two cruisers are considered sufficient to dispatch a battlesphere, given the mass difference.

Vulture droids are used here in a ground role, and will be discussed in the "Droids" section of the Ground Notes for this episode.

The Twilight takes a few missed shots during the landing bay battle, leaving scorch marks but no significant damage.

Vessel Security

Jedi, clones, and a droid landing on a Separatist battlesphere's hull do not trigger any alarms. 

Jedi, clones, and a droid roaming about the corridors do not trigger any alarms.

Jedi, clones, and a droid dispatching two battle droids within the corridors beneath the hull do not trigger any alarms.

Once the alarm is raised (by the traitorous spy droid that was with the Jedi and clones calling in to report they were there), the movement of the Republic intruders is still not affected but the reactor room does get the door shut and ray-shielded, which is a start.

An enemy ship lands in the Separatist battlesphere docking bay and there is no automatic alerting of the Vulture droid fighters hanging from the ceiling.

Other

Interestingly, Ahsoka does not even attempt to cut through the bulkhead next to the red TPM-style ray shield.  We know from TPM that the lightsaber would simply bounce off the shield itself, but that does not mean the emitters or their power supply could not have been damaged.

Ground Notes

Communications

Wrist communicators allow communication all throughout the battlesphere, this time without any apparent eavesdropping or interference or even detection.  Compare with "Destroy Malevolence"[TCW1].

Defense Systems

Ray shields are seen here aboard the battlesphere, and are considered impenetrable.  Interestingly, Ahsoka does not even attempt to cut through the bulkhead next to the red TPM-style ray shield.  We know from TPM that the lightsaber would simply bounce off the shield itself, but that does not mean the emitters or their power supply could not have been damaged.

Droids

"Those 631s are not the brightest lights on the ship," says a dumb battle droid.   This implies slightly different models of the standard-appearance battle droid, some of which are even dumber than others.

"All this moisture is corroding my servo-motors."   We've now heard of droids being susceptible to moisture-induced rapid corrosion and, in the ANH novelization, we hear of their lubricants and susceptibility to sand.  Droid construction technology thus appears to be not too far at all beyond our comprehension and normal modern materials and techniques, save for their AI and other gizmos.

Droids can have their heads ripped off from behind by a clone simply by grabbing their "jaw" and lifting upward, with the clone gaining purchase by pushing against the body.  This is remarkably shoddy construction, even accounting for strong clones.

Power Systems

Rex yells that there are fuel cells near him in the landing bay, leading Anakin to toss them at the droids so Rex can shoot and detonate them.   The effect appears to be on par with the liquid tibanna seen in "Rookies".

Sensors

Droids like R2 are often used in a sensor role, but spy droid R3-S6 is unable to detect Ahsoka eavesdropping on its conversation with Grievous, despite her being visible just over Grievous's shoulder.

Stratego-Tactical

Again we have a very direct pickup in enemy territory, regarding the Twilight landing within the battlesphere to extract the Jedi and clones.

Weapons - General

"Droid Poppers" are seen here for the first time.  Encased in a standard grenade frame, the device does not explode but instead emits a bright white flash that causes electrical arcs over the droids nearby.  Presumably this is akin somehow to an EMP device, causing an overload in the droid systems.   However, the lights and other nearby systems in the hallway were not affected.

A much different type of detonator is seen here, a more standard-looking cylinder with a joystick-top button on it.

Weapons - Firepower

Separatist Vulture fighter weapons are unable to penetrate packing crates, keeping good continuity with other instances such as droideka weapons being unable to penetrate.   Given that we've seen these same weapons used to attack and destroy Republic fighters (e.g. "Storm Over Ryloth"[TCW1]), this is disconcerting.  It's possible the weapons are automatically limited when in walker mode and aboard a Separatist base or vessel, though the weakness of such an idea would be apparent from this example.

The Twilight takes a few missed shots during the landing bay battle, leaving scorch marks but doing no significant damage.

Weapons - Range

A super battle droid is unable to hit a droid popper on the ground at its feet despite multiple shots.

Several battle droids and several super battle droids have four clones, a Jedi, and R3 caught in a direct crossfire.  The clones are able to get to cover with no losses, and the Jedi is never hit.

Three Vulture droids and four super battle droids have three clones, a Jedi, and R2 caught in a direct crossfire.  The clones and Jedi are able to run the gauntlet to some packing crates, which they take cover behind, with no losses.

Other Notes

Grievous demonstrates the ability to repel a blaster bolt back to its source, a Jedi trick.

8. "Bombad Jedi"[TCW1]

"The Clone War threatens the unity of the Republic! As battles rage across the galaxy, more worlds succumb to the seductive lure of the Separatists and leave the Republic. On a vital mission of peace, Senator Padmé Amidala journeys to the Outer Rim world of Rodia, desperate to ensure its loyalty remains to the Republic."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

A falling magnet, similar in principle to a large junkyard electromagnet, tears Amidala's ship apart, crushing the half under the magnet.

Ground Notes

Other Notes

9. "Cloak of Darkness"[TCW1]

"Viceroy Gunray captured! Senator Padmé Amidala has scored a victory against the Separatist Alliance on the remote world of Rodia, securing the arrest of the diabolical Confederate leader, Nute Gunray. The Jedi Council has dispatched Master Luminara Unduli and Anakin Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka to escort the Viceroy to Coruscant under heavy guard. Once there, he will face trial for his many war crimes."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Ground Notes

Other Notes

Once again we have Jedi utterly failing to detect duplicity in military officers, as the Senate Commando who betrays the Republic gets away with his devious plans unimpeded by the Jedi. See also "The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1] for another similar case.

10. "Lair of Grievous"[TCW1]

"Viceroy Gunray escapes! En route to Coruscant to stand trial for war crimes, evil Separatist leader Nute Gunray has broken free of his Jedi escort. With the help of Count Dooku's sinister agents, the villainous Viceroy has made a daring getaway. Alerted to the bold prison break, Jedi Master Kit Fisto has traced the stolen ship to a remote system, hoping to recapture Gunray and return him to justice."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Ground Notes

Other Notes

11. "Dooku Captured"[TCW1]

"Manhunt! After a long and perilous search, the Jedi finally track down Separatist leader, Count Dooku. During a heroic attempt to capture the Count, Anakin Skywalker has gone missing. Having lost contact with Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi heads towards his friend's last known location, a lone Separatist frigate in the far reaches of the Outer Rim."

("Halfway through the first season, George was so excited with what we were doing, he came in one day with an outline and handed it to me, “Turn that into a script.” It was a story called ‘Count Dooku Captured.” From then on, George got into the writing / scripting process in a big way. On season two, ALL of the story ideas came from George, except a couple that were originally written in season one by Dave and I (& Dini). I think season three is the same way." - CGI series writer Henry Gilroy)

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Communications

Galactography

The nearest planet to the crash site on Vanqor is Florrum, six parsecs away.   Vanqor is said to be "close" to Florrum later.

Drive Systems - FTL

Drive Systems - STL

Power Systems

Sensors

A man in a spacesuit can fly to and make hull contact with a Munificent undetected.

As the Jedi confront Dooku, a Republic cruiser is suddenly seen out of the Munificent's bridge windows firing on the Seppie ship. It is at this point that Dooku is called and the arrival of the ship and its attack is noted.

Defense Systems

Obi-Wan Kenobi approaches a Munificent in a space suit and boards it successfully without any interference, implying a lack of shielding in non-combat operations.
Stratego-Tactical

Warships and Spacecraft

In the opening monologue a Munificent is referred to as a frigate.   But in "Storm over Ryloth", we'll also heard them referred to as battlecruisers by Separatist naval droids, and simply cruisers by Republic clone officers.

Dooku's vessel is explicitly referred to as a solar sailer.

Weapons - General

Weapons - Firepower

Weapons - Range

Vessel Security

With the push of a single button on a console upon the Munificent hull, an airlock door is opened. In other words, the Separatists don't even lock their ships, even in the contested space of the Outer Rim.

After effortlessly sneaking to the detention area and releasing Anakin, the two easily locate and surprise Dooku.

Other

In a profoundly unlikely occurrence, two damaged ships headed toward a planet from a distance of several hundred thousand kilometers and both crash-land about 100 meters apart, and apparently this is not far from a band of pirates who are also on the unpopulated planet.   This would be about the same as deorbiting the ISS and shuttle, letting the shuttle undock on the way down, and yet having them both crash within a few kilometers radius of Neil Armstrong's house.

Ground Notes

Obi-Wan's lightsaber is damaged, refusing to stay on. The blade emerges and returns to the hilt continually, as opposed to simply disappearing.

Other Notes

Jedi are not capable of surviving a naturally occurring toxic gas via any Force power.

12. "The Gungan General"[TCW1]

"Dooku held for ransom! After escaping capture by Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the villainous Count Dooku fell into the clutches of pirates led by the brigand Hondo Ohnaka. Eager to get custody of Dooku, the Republic agreed to pay Hondo a hefty sum in exchange for the Sith Lord. But Anakin and Obi-Wan had not counted on the treacherous cunning of Ohnaka and his band."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Ground Notes

Other Notes

13. "Jedi Crash"[TCW1]

"The Republic fleet is on the defensive and pushed to the brink! As war rages in the much contested Outer Rim territories, chaos and fear mount as the Separatist army wages an epic battle against heavily outnumbered Republic ships in the far reaches of the Quell system. Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka race across the galaxy to aid Jedi Knight Aayla Secura who is in the midst of a fight for her life as the sinister droid army closes in."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

The Republic cruiser survives the crash itself quite well.

Ground Notes

Other Notes

14. "Defenders of Peace"[TCW1]

"Republic forces in retreat! While rescuing General Aayla Secura from certain defeat, Anakin Skywalker has been seriously injured. After a narrow escape, our heroes crash-landed on the remote world of Maridun. Stranded, and with no way to contact the Republic, the Jedi receive medical aid from the peaceful Lurmen colonists. But even on this tiny planet, the war threatens to follow the Jedi."

Chronological Notes

Direct follow-on to "Jedi Crash".

Space Notes

Ground Notes

Other Notes

Lightsabers cast shadows even in CGI.

I hate arrogant pacifism.  It's the taking of something good and worth striving for and turning it into a political tool.  For instance, if you're an arrogant pacifist talking to someone who respects pacifism but values liberty more (and thus fights), then this reasonable person wants you to understand why they feel liberty overrides peace.  After all, pacifism is a worthy goal, and Jedi above all others would not wish to be seen as not respecting pacifism.   But if you're the arrogant pacifist who's more pacifistic than said Jedi, being an obnoxious schmuck about it only serves to make perfectly reasonable people want to hit you.  At that point, of course, you would then start crying and bemoaning what evil hostile aggressors they are, yelling far and wide.  Then you get a lightsaber in the chest because you won't shut up.

The moral of the story is, being a pacifist doesn't just mean not shooting a gun.  It also means not shooting your mouth off.   Words can be weapons, too, and the little old alien punk from this episode knows that all too well.  No pacifist is he.

15. "Trespass"[TCW1]

"Republic outpost, overrun! The Jedi have lost all contact with the clone security force stationed on the bleak, snow-covered planet of Orto Plutonia. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, accompanied by dignitaries from the nearby moon of Pantora are sent to investigate the disappearance of the clone troopers on the desolate and forbidding landscape."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Sensors

On Orto Plutonia, either the Republic or Separatist base was planted within the attack range of the Talz local paleolithic village and the enemy base, without either spacefaring party being aware of either of the other two parties. Further, the planet Pantora was in the same system, but they were also unaware of the paleolithic Talz culture.

Stratego-Tactical

The Convention of Civilized Systems is noted as a prior treaty.

Ground Notes

Sensors

On Orto Plutonia, the Republic and Separatist bases were apparently unaware of one another and the local paleolithic population despite both being within attack range of the village of the primitive, wheel-less culture.

Other Notes

Chairman Chi Cho is a veritable fallacy farm. And yet the two Jedi allow his vacuous arguments to weigh heavily on their behavior despite his obvious schmuckery and illogic.

For instance, correctly noting that the Jedi Order reports to the Senate, Chi Cho then points to Senator Chuchi and suggests they report to her. Were that an argument, he would be guilty of the fallacy of division . . . applying qualities of the whole to the constituent parts. And yet the Jedi listen to the lone Senator as if her words are military orders during their military operation.

When next he speaks, he is declaring the slaughter of the base clones as a Separatist attack. When Chuchi asks him how he can be sure and points to the lack of blast marks or any other relevant evidence in comparison to all the counterevidence, Chi Cho's first response is to beg the question . . . the clone deaths are proof enough of them being Separatist-caused. Put another way, "the Separatists killed the clones, because the clones are dead."  How did this idiot get to be Chairman?

Pressed further with facts, he snootily inquires whether Chuchi is now an expert on warfare and thus capable of reasonably questioning the evidence of who killed the clones. That is to say, he uses an ad hominem against her.  He follows this up quickly with the claim that he himself is an expert, having seen all sorts of warfare, and thus he alone is the best judge of who did what to whom. That is to say, he appeals to authority . . . his own. And given what a total toolbag he is, I'm quite prepared to declare his claims of his own authority bogus.

Equally alarming is that Senator Chuchi never contests his illogic on rational grounds.  And worse, inexplicably, the Jedi defer to him constantly, even allowing their own Republic troops in the midst of a military operation to suddenly fall under his command, leading to the creation of a well-armed and well-supported schmuck.

You would think the Jedi would have the ability to spot and explain fallacious reasoning.

16. "The Hidden Enemy"[TCW1]

"A planet under siege! Separatist forces mercilessly batter the beautiful and elegant world of Christophsis. Unable to defend themselves any longer, the people of Christophsis call upon the Jedi for assistance. Hoping to save lives and prevent further destruction, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker plan a daring ambush that can turn the tide in the fight for this crucial star system."

Chronological Notes

This is a prequel episode to a prequel movie to one of the prequel movies out of the prequel trilogy.

Space Notes

Christophsis is a "crucial star system". We see no space forces or bases, nor any local ground military (though they are implied by the opening monologue). The planet does seem to be built up to a significant degree . . . while it is no Coruscant, structure to the world is visible from space, just as city patterns are visible across most of Coruscant.

Ground Notes

Despite the movie and this episode, I'm pretty sure we've never actually seen a Christophsian (or Christophsisian . . . or Christopher . . . or Christie . . . whatever).

Other Notes

The Jedi are apparently completely oblivious to Slick's betrayal, much as occurred with the Senate Commando in "Cloak of Darkness"[TCW1]. Some have claimed or suggested that the Jedi are better than Betazoids for their ability to detect liars. Many had thought that the only reason Order 66 worked was due to some sleeper-agent-esque programming of the clones. However, here we have a clone that the Jedi personally know but who manages to evade detection through the entire process of doubting, communicating with the enemy, and finally conducting an orchestrated campaign.

17. "Blue Shadow Virus"[TCW1]

"Battle droids on Naboo! As the Separatist rebellion rages through the galaxy, even peaceful planets are threatened. Following the discovery of Separatist droids wandering the grassy wasteland, Naboo is once again on high alert. Fearing their home is facing another invasion, Senator Amidala and Representative Binks race to Naboo to assess the situation. Meanwhile, near the Gungan swamplands, an even graver threat is about to be discovered."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Ground Notes

( In recreating the Theed hangar, the crew discovered that the Naboo starfighter's tails go through the hangar walls in order to fit into their stalls. Dave Filoni consulted with Episode I Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll about this, and Knoll confirmed they had the same problem in The Phantom Menace. )

Other Notes

How did the Separatists build a secret underground base under the nose of an advanced, spaceborne society of a planet populated by two species?  They had to enter the system in ships, land on the planet unobserved, and then do earthworks for who knows how long.   I can imagine that Star Wars technology would allow such a maneuver against present-day Earth, to be sure, but Naboo had already felt the sword.  Did they not at least improve their sensors afterward?

Then again, peculiar as it may sound, StarWars.com's Episode Guide notes that "The laboratory may have been built over a decade ago during the original Naboo invasion."    However, that doesn't explain restock and resupply.

18. "Mystery of a Thousand Moons"[TCW1]

"Hard-pressed Jedi and their valiant clone troopers have thwarted an insidious Separatist plot to plant bombs loaded with the deadly Blue Shadow Virus in key Republic systems. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have captured the vile scientist behind the nefarious scheme: Doctor Nuvo Vindi. Now the Jedi plan to transport Vindi to the Republic capital for trial."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Ground Notes

Communications

Assorted standard communicators were seen in use, though a particular communicator used by the annoying kid of Iego was a full shore-to-ship communicator.

Defense Systems

Droids

For some reason, the droids of a secret base were of the opinion they should escape if the virus was released.  Given that droids are generally fairly expendable, this is an odd bit of programming.

The annoying kid of Iego had reprogrammed battle droids to serve him.   Though he noted it had taken him nine months, the simple fact that a civilian can reprogram battle droids at all is a bit odd, given the usual battle droid self-preservation and whatnot.

Droideka shields have no apparent kinetic shielding component.  Ahsoka is able to leap directly upon one of them and her leg and arms and hands are seen beneath it.  There is no evidence the droideka had been damaged at that time.   Ahsoka then pokes her lightsaber through the shield, activating it and destroying the droideka.

Facilities

Though the Republic forces had blown big entry holes in the underground facility last episode, it (or part of it) is now considered airtight.
Power Systems

Sensors

The safe-room in the lab complex containing Ahsoka and Rex had some sort of sensors allowing the clones to confirm that the blue puff that entered the room after Ahsoka was, in fact, the airborne Blue Shadow virus.

No ground-based sensors on Iego were able to detect any of the technology behind the Separatist laser defense field.  Instead the remaining citizenry actually believed it was a ghost.
Stratego-Tactical

Troop Armor

As soon as a clone identifies that some of the virus entered the room, the helmeted clone leader Rex fatalistically notes to Ashoka that they "may be dead men, but" could still stop the droids running around. Ashoka responds that they are not dead yet, and that Skywalker will find a cure. (Not get them out of the room before the air in their pressure suit ran out . . . she said cure them.)

Then Padme and Ashoka talk, at which point Padme asks if they are contaminated. Ashoka says yes.  Only then do we see that, across the room, two clones have their helmets off and are coughing. (Presumably they took their helmets off to make the coughing easier.)

When next we see Ashoka, Padme and Jar-Jar (in special environmental suits) enter their sealed lab. Even the clones who were previously helmeted now have their helmets off.  But someone's missing from the group: there was a clone in the "safety chamber" Padme and Jar-Jar were in when the virus was released. Instead of helping the Senator and Representative to the Galactic Senate through the droid-riddled lab complex, the clone is apparently left behind . . . we never see him leave with them nor is he with them when we see them in the lab complex hallways.
Weapons - General
Weapons - Firepower
Weapons - Range
Vehicles - Armored
Vehicles - Other

Other Republic Gear

I'm not sure we've ever seen a shovel in Star Wars before, but now we have.  It's . . . well, it's a shovel.

Other Confederacy Gear

Some sort of drill or circular saw was being used by the droids to try to escape the lab complex, rather than blaster or other energy-weapon techniques.   This may have been evidence of smarter droids, given that an earlier droid had fired his blaster and ricochet had destroyed him.  This may suggest that the lab complex hatches were magnetically sealed, as per the Death Star garbage masher in ANH.

The annoying kid of Iego had some rather familiar-looking binoculars, presumably of Separatist origin given the history of the planet.

Other Notes

To a person from Earth of today, it seems unlikely that the Confederacy could possibly expect to have the moral high ground in the war given the intended use of bioweapons against civil populations. Considering that planets are presumably still being seduced by the Confederacy, one wonders just how such a tale could be met by the Separatist leaders.

19. "Storm Over Ryloth"[TCW1]

"Planet Ryloth invaded! Subjected to a brutal droid occupation, the people of Ryloth are starving under the blockade of a Separatist fleet. Evil Separatist leader Wat Tambor now rules with an iron fist. Answering a plea from the Senate, the Grand Army of the Republic mounts a bold offensive to liberate the system. It is up to Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka to make way for Obi-Wan's ground assault."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Communications

Holo-transmissions are seen in use during the battle, again contradicting the old yarn that holotransmissions and shields are somehow incompatible.

Galactography

From the StarWars.com episode guide:  "The expanded universe has described Ryloth as a tide-locked planet -- meaning one side faces the sun all year long. If this is true, it makes Mace Windu's blockade-busting deadline of "one planetary rotation" curious, though Mace never does identify what planet he's referring to."   Oh, please . . . no spin-doctoring.   Obviously he refers to Ryloth, and we see the sun moving around the sky even just in reference to the capital city, not to mention the whole "bomb every village in range" order from Tambor (implying short bomber range and that the night bombing raid we see is within said range).

Drive Systems - FTL
Drive Systems - STL
Power Systems
Sensors

Defense Systems

A fully armed and shielded Trade Federation battleship cannot withstand the impact of a slow-moving shielded Venator.  However, there are some interesting blue sparks during the final collision that may indicate the shields were trying to do something, however useless it may have been.

Space Facilities
Stratego-Tactical

Warships and Spacecraft

Whereas a prior appearance of the Trade Federation battleship design was actually as a stand-in for a smaller type of ship (see "Rookies"[TCW1]), this time we have the full-size vessel in all its glory.

Weapons - General
Weapons - Firepower
Weapons - Range
Vessel Security
Other

Ground Notes

Other Notes

20. "Innocents of Ryloth"[TCW1]

"Invasion! Separatist leader Wat Tambor has taken control of the planet Ryloth and subjugates its people through a brutal droid occupation. In a daring surprise attack, Jedi Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano defeated the space blockade guarding the planet. Now, Jedi Generals Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi lead a massive invasion to liberate the starving people."

Chronological Notes

Space Notes

Space superiority does not instantly grant air superiority, here, as Separatists are able to use air power against Twi'lek villages.   Were it not for the campaign to kill the Twi'lek, the Separatists might've been able to expend that energy against Republic forces, who clearly did not have established air superiority.

Space superiority also does not grant ground superiority, as Republic forces must destroy gun emplacements and Separatist forces directly, on the ground.

Ground Notes

Obi-Wan and Republic clones hide behind trees to avoid droid blaster fire, including fire from a fixed double-barrel weapon.   Obviously there was no concern of droid fire being able to blast tree trunks apart at will.

Space superiority does not instantly grant air superiority, here, as Separatists are able to use air power against Twi'lek villages.   Were it not for the campaign to kill the Twi'lek, the Separatists might've been able to expend that energy against Republic forces, who clearly did not have established air superiority.

Space superiority also does not grant ground superiority, as Republic forces must destroy gun emplacements and Separatist forces directly, on the ground.

Most strikingly, the Separatist guns seems to prevent landing, but why are they useless against orbital targets?   Seems as if the guns ought to be more than capable of taking out orbiting ships given what one did to that Acclamator.   Could it be that shore-to-orbit fire is not possible with such a gun, due to range?

Other Notes

21. "Liberty on Ryloth"[TCW1]

"Republic victory is at hand! Clone troopers under the command of the Jedi have successfully invaded the Separatist-occupied world of Ryloth. Anakin Skywalker battles the enemy in the skies, while Obi-Wan Kenobi frees villages from the grip of vile Separatist leader, Wat Tambor. Now, Jedi General Mace Windu leads the attack on the enemy lines in the final offensive to liberate the capital city of Lessu."

Chronological Notes

This episode is the direct follow-on to "Innocents of Ryloth".   It is not clear how much time has passed, however, since Republic troops have apparently had to take the planet back piece by piece.   At the start of this episode, Windu notes that with Obi-Wan having taken the Jixuan desert, the southern hemisphere is finally clear, for instance.

Space Notes

Defense Systems

An Acclamator is seen apparently being hit by heavy weapons fire in the opening cutscene sequence. A fireball, larger around than the ship is tall, has formed behind the ship, quickly dissipating into moderately thick smoke, albeit with what looks like a falling part or two beneath the ship.





The impression is that the ship is engaged in a listing fall with her innards falling out behind her, but this is uncertain. The entire event could merely be an evasion with missed shot. However, it looks very similar to the Acclamator shootdown last episode.

Vessels would certainly behave differently in space than in air when attacked.  In air, for instance, there is atmospheric blast added, whereas in space there is merely hard radiation and what little blast comes from the vaporized projectile itself.   However, it seems clear that a hit that could maybe be measured in kilotons (if we stretch) was sufficient to damage a Republic ship.  This fits nicely with the vast majority of Star Wars.

Stratego-Tactical

Space superiority does not instantly grant air superiority, here, as Separatists are able to use air power against Twi'lek villages.   Were it not for the campaign to kill the Twi'lek, the Separatists might've been able to expend that energy against Republic forces, who clearly did not have established air superiority.

Space superiority also does not grant ground superiority, as Republic forces must destroy gun emplacements and Separatist forces directly, on the ground.

Ground Notes

Communications

Apparently no communications are expected between the treasure transports and the city, given that Windu and company are able to take a transport without any alarm being raised.  It is only when they are directly scanned that alerts are raised.

Defense Systems

The capital is considered unapproachable except via a "plasma bridge", basically a high-tech drawbridge.   This means that moats are still tactically sound in the Star Wars universe, which is odd to say the least.

Droids

((This episode features Jason the Tactical Droid.  Though not his real designation, the voice acting and modulation to droid-ism is so badly done that it merely sounds like an emotionless dork in his basement making a YouTube video by talking through a desk fan.  I can barely listen to it.   The tactical droids from "Jedi Crash" and "Innocents of Ryloth" sounded far, far better.  I think the problem is the relaxed diction, making the droid sound too casual if not aroused, but the modulation is supposed to come across as evil, but instead it is barely-there, so too much bland human voice is heard.  Either way it just doesn't work, and thus we have Jason the Tactical Droid.))

Jason the Tactical Droid is a unique character in that it is a droid who has no respect for Wat Tambor, and even completely betrays him by leaving with Tambor's ship while Tambor is approaching the ship to leave.  This leaves Tambor in the hands of the Republic.   Were Jason not a droid, we would correctly presume he was a power-hungry individual seeking his own glorification and advancement.

Facilities

The capital city of Ryloth is unimpressive, to say the least.   Though composed of some multi-story buildings and perhaps (just hoping here) some underground facilities dug into a mountain, it is basically a very small town, equivalent to a few square blocks of a major American city.  Single buildings on Coruscant are more impressive.   There are no apparent roads except for another peculiar winding road below the edge of a cliff and there aren't even any suburbs.

If this is the capital one wonders what the rest of the cities look like . . . perhaps as small and unimpressive as the village from "Innocents of Ryloth" and the village bombed in this episode?    In short, there's simply no evidence of a significant civilization here.   (Perhaps this is why we see so many Twi'leks elsewhere . . . their homeworld is a boring wasteland.)

Power Systems

Sensors

Though Separatist sensors did not detect Windu's entry into the treasure transport, Jason the Tactical Droid does inform Wat Tambor after awhile that "the Republic walkers are holding at 1200 meters".

Stratego-Tactical

Space superiority does not instantly grant air superiority, here, as Separatists are able to use air power against Twi'lek villages.   Were it not for the campaign to kill the Twi'lek, the Separatists might've been able to expend that energy against Republic forces, who clearly did not have established air superiority.

Space superiority also does not grant ground superiority, as Republic forces must destroy gun emplacements and Separatist forces directly, on the ground.

During the initial tank battle on a road winding along a sheer cliff face, Separatist tanks appear to be aiming at the tanks themselves, as opposed to the cliff road. One wonders why they did not simply blow out the road.

During the initial tank battle, Republic tanks do not demonstrate the climbing capability seen in the movie. The reason why is not clear . . . tactically they were just as bad off either way, so why stay on the precarious road?

Mace Windu refers to "our spies". Unless local Twi'lek were impressed into service, it is uncertain how the Republic could have spies among the droids.

Given the paltry size of the capital and the absence of any high technology on Ryloth besides the plasma bridge, one is forced to wonder why the Separatists even bothered conquering Ryloth.   It seems to be only slightly more populated than Tatooine, and about as useful to galactic civilization.

Troop Armor

The troops assigned to the AT-ST in this episode are actually scouts, judging by their scout trooper helmets.  One trooper gets his helmet punched off, though, implying a lack of seal equivalent to later scout trooper helmets during the Imperial era.

Clone armor has no real gut protection.  The section of white over the belly is actually flexible and stretchy.

Weapons - General

The Separatist 'firebombing' campaign against the Twi'lek uses unique bomber versions of the Separatist Vulture-type droid fighters.



The bombs themselves are large, similar in size to the primary (non-aerodynamic) section of a modern Mk. 82 500lb bomb. But, the fact that battle droids can heft them up individually indicates that they are probably lighter.




However, the observed effect of the bombs is compatible with the Mk. 82 comparison. As deployed against Ryloth villages, the behavior and blast radius seem roughly consistent with Mk. 82 videos from the Iraq War.
Even assuming a vast array of space-taking additional systems within the bomb (e.g. multiple detonators, anti-ECM, etc.), and given the fact that a battle droid can lift them, the Separatist bombs are unlikely to have shrunken the explosive component by a factor of more than ten, and perhaps as small as two depending on the lifting capacity of the battle droid. That is to say, the energy density of the explosive comprising their standard ordinance isn't going to be more than an order of magnitude greater than our Earth standard ordinance as developed in the 20th Century, and may be as low as two times as great.

Weapons - Firepower

As noted earlier, the Vulture droid bomber variant was apparently created to be a bomb-dropper.  That's not a truism . . . just an observation that if fighter blasters were as powerful as bombs but can be dialled to any yield, there's no reason to have a separate dedicated vehicle that drops explosives, because you wouldn't need it.  Thus, it follows that fighter blasters are not as powerful as Vulture bombs.

Weapons - Range

The initial tank battle combat range is not too bad for Star Wars, similar in distance to the opening stages of the Battle of Geonosis from Attack of the Clones. This is similar to WW2 tank battle ranges.

Vehicles - Armored

Republic tanks were able to withstand multiple long-range direct hits from Separatist tanks.  Only when the leg was broken by enemy fire was the tank disabled.  Windu wastes what remains by Force-shoving it off the side of the cliff road.

Separatist tanks can be disabled by a single thrown Republic hand grenade on the top of the main body, or destroyed by massed AT-ST fire, as seen in different examples from this episode.

Vehicles - Other

Open-cockpit one-man two-legged walkers (similar if not identical to the AT-ST from RotS, as per its name in the script) can run.  They were doing 30-40mph by my guesstimation, and they demonstrated good acceleration and maneuverability.

When the bridge was deactivated the antigrav transports started dropping right away, implying that the big antigrav vehicles somehow push against the ground instead of just floating in place against a nullified gravity.

Ryloth appears to have no vehicles of its own.  The only transport appears to be large animals.

Other Republic Gear

Again we have a clone trooper making use of droid binoculars.

Other Confederacy Gear

We see droids making use of binoculars.




The binoculars appear to offer green monochrome optics. The overlays suggest either a powered display or some sort of electronic image manipulation rather than simple lens-based optics like 20th Century binoculars. (There is also the possibility that green monochrome is the usual sort of vision of a battle droid, so we are simply seeing his viewpoint. However, this is uncertain so far as I recall.)

Other Notes

Mace Windu demonstrates a fine control of the Force push/pull technique. Much as a pointed object is used to shatter glass, apparently Windu is able to focus the Force into something similar. This "shatterpoint technique" (if you will) causes the tank front window to shatter into numerous pieces.

22. "Hostage Crisis"[TCW1]

"Danger looms! Despite recent victories in the Outer Rim, criminal minds plot at the very heart of the Republic! The bounty hunter Cad Bane has assembled some of the deadliest criminals in the galaxy and plans a daring attack to seize members of the Senate. What can be the aim of this despicable act?"

((Special thanks to SFJ poster l33telboi for certain observations regarding this episode.))

Chronological Notes

Seemingly follows right after the Ryloth trilogy, given the recent victories.

Space Notes

Galactography

Anakin knows of "a place far away" from Coruscant where he and Padme would not be recognized. When she protests going, he says "it's only two weeks . . . we'll be back before anyone even notices we're gone".

This implies a travel time to the location measured in anything up to days, but not weeks.

Ground Notes

Droids

Commando droids put on Senate commando armor from dead Senate commandos, which is somehow ironic. Curiously, the exposed neck and chin areas are visible on the commando droids as well, implying either a specially-carried fake-chin for the droids or else a rather clean and orderly removal of the necessary Senate guard components.

Assassin droids can be beaten to sparky death with a rifle-size gun, to the point that the head is detached.

Assassin droids have red laser-pointer lasers they can shoot from their heads toward targets of interest. This serves no obvious purpose, unless the droid has eyes on its hands to enable it to aim with the laser point.

Assassin droids have flashlights on their heads roughly equivalent to a modern 1-watt LED, but with a hard-edged and tight beam reminiscent of stage spotlights. A similar poor light comes from the gun of one of the villains.

Communications

Wrist communicators are seen on the Senate Commandos. Anakin is seen to use a Phantom Menace style hand communicator.

Facilities

The Senate building landing platforms are shown again as they were in Episode III.

The Senate building has a central control room from which the entire building's power supply, security system, and communications to the outside (even via Anakin's hand communicator) are readily blocked. The door to it apparently is not locked as a part of normal operations, and there is no access control evident in the hallway leading to it.

The activation of the security system apparently locks down the building, causing some doors to close tight. However, apparently no one in the outside world is informed that it has been triggered.

Sixteen hand-sized bombs detonated simultaneously penetrate the outer shell of the Senate building despite not having sufficient blast to injure Senators who were down a hole in the floor.

Sensors

Cad Bane, when driving right up to the Senate building without authorization, has his comrades merely duck in the open-top vehicle to hide their numbers, implying a strong lack of sensor use at the Senate building or nearby.

No one notices the sniper's blaster rifle near the Senate building, and no alarms go off when it is used to kill Senate Commando guards, implying that no detection of blaster fire around the building periphery is in use.

No alarms go off when blasters are fired inside the Senate building, and no one apparently sees the gang of bandits walking around inside, implying a lack of monitored cameras and a lack of internal blaster fire detection.

No alarms go off when Senate Commando guards die, implying that no remote sensing of the guards' lifesigns is active. The same is therefore later true of what might be a Senator.

Stratego-Tactical

Cad Bane and his gang of bandits drive right up to the Republic's hub of authority, shoot a few guards with the assistance of a pre-planted sniper in a neighboring building, then walk right in. They effortlessly surprise and shoot the somewhat oblivious guard to the unlocked building control room at the end of a hall, shoot the four unarmed droids inside, and then own the power, security system, and internal and external communications of the building. Shortly thereafter, they take a number of Senators hostage who are standing in an empty great hall that does not have any guards anywhere near it.

The plan is retardedly brazen and overconfident (just try to pull off the same thing at the White House, for example), yet it succeeds to that point without any losses whatsoever. The plan speaks poorly of Bane, but even more poorly of the Senate's security.

(For proper security, we would expect live people using their eyes, supported by scanning devices on the scene. Then, installed along the periphery of the building we would expect remote sensing devices with their data routed back to one or several central security offices, with suitable levels of redundancy. And there would be troops spread throughout with special responder units on standby in case a heavier response is needed.)

Worse still, Bane walks away with his rotund prize, having used up all of his threats and capacity to harm the Republic, like an unarmed terrorist. Yet when we last see him he is driving away from the crime scene in a very-readily-identifiable open-top hovercar, and still he goes unchased, uncaught, and again unopposed.

In case you were missing the concept spread throughout the above, the seat of government for the Republic, a nation in wartime, had about the same security precautions and security staffing as the local mall. And after owning the security staff, the badguys walked away to freedom under the noses of the cops. Little wonder also that even as the capital was on lockdown with the "Jedi Rebellion" in Revenge of the Sith, Yoda was able to walk into the Senate building, nearly kill Palpatine, and then escape the building in a passenger car driven by a politician.

Troop Armor

Cad Bane breaks the neck of a Senate commando in the usual movie-style 'sleeper-hold' way.

As Senate commandos look around for the sniper, it appears that they expose their visible upper necks and chins. The sections are flesh-colored, as seen on the commando on the right when the person who spotted the sniper is killed. The commando on the right is the same one whose neck is broken by Bane.

A commando sees incoming fire and raises his left arm defensively, taking a shot to the arm. It does not appear to be a glancing blow. The trooper is not apparently killed at that point, though it is only a few frames later that the headshot kills him so there is no way to know what damage was caused. That commando's helmet also exposes his neck and chin area, and more are visible as the sniper surveys her carnage.

Weapons - General

A sniper rifle, similar to the one used by the shape-shifter in Attack of the Clones, is seen in use here. Again we have a long-barrel scoped weapon, little different in its most basic strokes from a modern sniper rifle. The hit rate was quite high for this weapon.

A thermal detonator is employed against a small barracks room filled with commandos. The door to the room closes and contains the blast, somewhat.

Weapons - Firepower

When the thermal detonator detonates, fire and sparks seem to emerge through the seams of the door, seemingly a blast door. The door falls away from the explosion like a door falling off its hinges. There is at least one survivor who is promptly shot. Given his location compared to where the detonator was tossed and the location of the commandos, it seems likely that there were other survivors.A lightsaber is used to cut through a two-foot (~.66m) thick solid floor, made of unknown material. Though the material is glowing like many things a lightsaber cuts through, interestingly the hands of Bail Organa are not burned when in contact with this glowing material, nor do the clothes of another Senator suffer apparent damage despite his more extensive contact.
A series of 16 hand-size laser-emitting wall-sticking panels with onboard bombs are used in their exploding role. The blast and flame do not penetrate a hole in the floor, but do apparently penetrate the exterior wall of the Senate building.

Weapons - Range

The sniper appeared to take up position within a kilometer or two of the Senate building, which is quite-long-but-not-totally-unreasonable sniping range by today's standards.

Vehicles - Other

Those little lightning-looking power couplings, similar to what held the racing pods together in Episode I, are here used on a speeder on Coruscant to tow a trailing vehicle.

Other Notes

Though Anakin is with Padme and not on the battlefield, it is nonetheless disconcerting that he fails to detect via any Jedi sense that half a dozen Senate commandos die right outside Padme's window, et cetera.

Skywalker uses a mind trick to misdirect a badguy and assassin droid searching the area for him. They split up, and in the surprise of the episode he actually goes to fight the droid instead of the guy. I found that quite odd.

It's kind of shocking how easily Anakin is dispatched sans lightsaber. When faced with a locked door he was trying desperately to open it to no avail, he was surprised by a badguy. Force-pulling the gun from the guy's hand, he was then surprised by the person behind the badguy, who shot the gun from his hand. Then a little midget alien completely surprises and owns him with a stungun from behind.