Dude, if you can make money from your hobby why not?
Spoilers The Imperial Thread
- Thread starter EmoBorg
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And then one of the coolest Imperial officers. Valin Hess was a badass. Vicious, but a badass.
Stormtroopers are like the waffen SS.
They are picked for there devotion to the new order rather than military skill.
It's likely why the quality of the Stormtroopers like waffen SS would vary.
Yes some SS units were a elite fighting force but most were just methed up thugs.
Some like 501st would be deadly while other Stormtrooper regiments are useless and only good for committing atrocities and acting as enforcers.
Yeah, as a general rule the Stormtroopers are meant to be the indoctrinated fanatics, while the Imperial Army troopers are mostly conscripts, or like Han; Academy washouts. It's meant to be a meat grinder. The marines are something else again and I think that's what we call the Snowtroopers are actually supposed to be (remember they were originally going to be Imperial Supercommandos, and that's what the Boba Fett armor design was meant to be for.) On top of that the ISB has it's own security forces, and high rankers tend to have their own guard forces, often from the Death Trooper corps who appear to be a separate thing.
If a lot of this seems redundant, well this is how actually militaries are. Also; Palpatine deliberately built his Empire with a lot of redundant power-structures with overlapping areas of responsibility. So long as the Moffs and the Grand Admirals and the Governors, and the Directors, and the Commandants are all busy elbowing each other out of the way trying to gain their Emperor's favour, they're not collaborating to overthrow him, because anyone that tries will get eaten alive by their competition.
Having a vast army with cheap, next to useless armor, weapons that can barley shoot straight, and little in the way of training is also part of that. By forcing his Empire to depend on sheer numbers it makes it impossible for any one person to gain control of enough forces to pose a serious threat. Palpatine is a manipulator after all, not a micro-manager. He likes to make his enemies do the work for him.
If a lot of this seems redundant, well this is how actually militaries are. Also; Palpatine deliberately built his Empire with a lot of redundant power-structures with overlapping areas of responsibility. So long as the Moffs and the Grand Admirals and the Governors, and the Directors, and the Commandants are all busy elbowing each other out of the way trying to gain their Emperor's favour, they're not collaborating to overthrow him, because anyone that tries will get eaten alive by their competition.
Having a vast army with cheap, next to useless armor, weapons that can barley shoot straight, and little in the way of training is also part of that. By forcing his Empire to depend on sheer numbers it makes it impossible for any one person to gain control of enough forces to pose a serious threat. Palpatine is a manipulator after all, not a micro-manager. He likes to make his enemies do the work for him.
It's interesting to see with Ahsoka and how the stormtroopers were moved from fanaticism for the Emperor then moving it towards Thrawn. Thrawn is still focused on the Empire's goals, and the destruction of their foes, while the troopers have taken that fanaticism to connecting with Thrawn as their object of loyalty.
I imagine a decade cut off from civilization entirely with Thrawn being the only present authority figure might have had something to do with it.
I thought it was because of his amazing tiramasu?
I'm sure there were multiple factors. Holo-movie night ever Friday probably also contributed.
In ANH, the stormtroopers destroy the Lars homestead and obliterate the Jawas fairly easily.
I think the original intent was to have them be scary kill em soldiers, but the later 2 films just made them targets to the rebels. It makes for good drama but not a good military.
Properly trained and equipped stormtrooper units are deadly, the "show" units are a joke.
Most stormtroopers are basic occupation enforcement soldiers. Few have military combat experience. A lot of those would have been stationed on the Death Star or Darth Vader's Star Destroyer. However those troops would become less as they were replaced with new conscripts after the destruction of the Death Star.
For Bespin it seems more like Vader was leaving behind his occupation troopers rather than his better combat troopers.
But Endor? I don't know what happened there. The Emperor's "best" legion was not all that good. Overconfidence is a factor. Also maybe this legion was only the best in simulations, or their officers were corrupt and cooking the books so to speak to make them look better in the eyes of the Emperor. Though he should have been able to see through them.
For Bespin it seems more like Vader was leaving behind his occupation troopers rather than his better combat troopers.
But Endor? I don't know what happened there. The Emperor's "best" legion was not all that good. Overconfidence is a factor. Also maybe this legion was only the best in simulations, or their officers were corrupt and cooking the books so to speak to make them look better in the eyes of the Emperor. Though he should have been able to see through them.
Neither of those takes much tactical competency. Indeed it's the sheer overkill of it all is clearly the work of thugs.
That much is indeed true. The second draft of ANH in particular makes a point to portray the Imperial troops as eerily efficient, almost robotic in their precise coordination . . . mostly just to show how awesome Aquillian Ranger Deak Starkiller is when he shows up and wipes the floor with them.
That was mostly down to them being ill trained and ill equipped (mentally and materially) for asymmetrical warfare. Or at least not THAT asymmetrical. Their sensors are keyed to heat and energy signatures from blasters and repulsorlift engines. Naturally insulated creatures in heavy camouflage, intimately familiar with the terrain, using stone and wooden weaponry? They may as well have been invisible.
Also a tribe is by sheer every day survival necessity a well practiced and disciplined unit, and they just so happen to be quite experienced and equipped at combating the giant monsters that share their forest moon.
The portion of Palpatine's legion that greeted them outside the bunker entrance were mostly just sat out in the open as a brazen show of force. No real attempt to secure a perimeter, or set up fortifications. When they were ambushed it instantly turned to uncoordinated chaos with troopers, bikers and walkers all scattering into the bush to chase down a force they could barely see. Blindly taking the lures and being picked off in twos and threes.
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