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I was watching through the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, and I got to the episode where General Grievous has to get past an asteroid belt to attack a Republic fleet on the other side. The first thing he states is that he can not go over the asteroid belt due to the fact that the weak side, or the underbelly would be exposed. So, he gets the idea to go through it, which results in his ships getting demolished by the "trap" the republic set up.

BUT, why did he choose to go through them?

From my point of view, attacking from either the bottom (Best option because it would mean the enemy's weak point - their bottom side - would be above), or from above the belt while upside down would be much smarter.

Why did General Grievous choose to go through the belt and not beneath or above (but upside down) it?

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I have seen the series but don't remember the specific episode. I'd imagine that most ships attack each other head on so the front deflector shields would be the strongest in any event, at least it seems that way in the pitched battles that they show, the ships aren't all that maneuverable, the only ships that would be able to 'outflank' them would be smaller more agile ships which presumably have lesser firepower so a weakness on the bottom or the top would be less of an issue.

He may have wanted the element of surprise since they may not have expected him to go straight through, maybe he was overconfident or didn't care about losing some of his fleet (he is often unconcerned with losing his troops and he is very aggressive, having to be restrained several times by Dooku).

Also, it may not have been explicitly stated, but the top might have been just as weak as the bottom so it could be just as risky to go under. Also, and I don't know this for sure, most of the weaponry on the ships may be aligned to attack head on rather than from underneath, he would have to dive deep and then come up underneath to use the forward fire power, and the stationary enemy targets could pivot down much faster than he could move forward and pivot up since they would see him coming.

That's all I can think of. What is the trap that the Republic set, to lure him into the asteroid field?

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  • I don't buy the "top is as weak as the bottom." If I remember looking, the top and front was able to plow through the asteroids.
    – The Man
    Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 22:42
  • Another reason might be that if the opposing ships were close to the asteroid field they would not be able to maneuver except to move backwards or try and move sideways or directly up/down, all of which I am guessing would be quite slow since those larger ships aren't made for those sorts of movements, the primary engines are for forwards. Perhaps Grievous though that if his ships could take the asteroid field he could also maneuver around in it giving him another advantage while his quarry would have to remain somewhat stationary.
    – Phyneas
    Commented Mar 5, 2015 at 22:56
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Grievous, seeing how it looked like a bad Idea to expose the bottoms of his ships AND seeing the potential benefits for coming out of the asteroid choose it without thought as to how it could be turned against him.

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