Star Wars question??

[Immolatus]

Hello all,

quick question. I just showed my kids the OT and they had a lot of questions which I was able to answer except one. My boy asked me "what good was the stormtroopers armor if it only takes one shot to kill them?" couldn't answer him. I never got into the EU books so I was hoping maybe there might me an answer there. or if you chaps can give me your input that would be helpful

 

[Nedersong]

Stormtrooper armor might be for protection against enviroment, not weapons fire.

Or it could be that the main characters are just using more powerful weapons that can pierce their armor.

Of course, these can never be confirmed on screen.

 

[Hermiod]

^Have we ever actually confirmed that those guys were dead and not just stunned ?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

because the OT was meant to be a swashbuckling adventure, and things like that happen.

 

[Smiley]

The armor is great for blocking projectiles and deflecting glancing shots. There's also good gear inside the helmet, and the armor is extremely intimidating to most opposition.

There is a story in Tales from the Empire ("Tinian on Trial," I believe) that tangentially mentions some R&D in stormtrooper armor.

 

[MarianLH]

Real body armour doesn't stop a direct hit either, but it does protect against shrapnel, which seems to be at least as big a battlefield killer as bullets.


Marian

 

[Nedersong]

^Have we ever actually confirmed that those guys were dead and not just stunned ?

I don't see how a stun setting could penetrate the armor. But I have no clue on what the answer is.

But I don't see how at the beginning of ANH that those Troopers in the corridors of the Blockade Runner they stormed could be just stunned either. So I seriously doubt it.

 

[zenophite]

will you people just stop making sense already?

 

[DWF]

Yeah no amount of armor will stop dead an energy bolt, but I think the armor is more symbolic than anything else it's meant to make the stormtroopers nameless and faceless just cogs in the machine that the Empire represents.

 

[Hermiod]

^Which is re-emphasized by the fact that they all used to look the same.

 

[EnsignRicky]

In line with the Empire's philosophy, the armor is probably designed more for looks and is otherwise just as disposable as the person wearing it.

 

[Steve Roby]

quick question. I just showed my kids the OT and they had a lot of questions which I was able to answer except one. My boy asked me "what good was the stormtroopers armor if it only takes one shot to kill them?" couldn't answer him.

Well, it's an unpleasant situation. Better armor exists, but Palpatine's political party, which dominated the Republic Senate, was for cutting spending and reducing taxes, so stormtrooper armour was purchased from low-bid companies that had conveniently also made donations to Palpatine's party. And when the Republic became the Empire, the government contracting system didn't exactly become more open and transparent. Some stormtroopers were willing to spend their own money to buy better gear, but found they couldn't transport it due to mass/weight restrictions.

Oh, sure, everyone has a "Support the Stormtroopers" ribbon sticker on their landspeeder, but do they even know or care that Imperial forces have to go into battle in inferior body armor?

 

[Small White Car]

quick question. I just showed my kids the OT and they had a lot of questions which I was able to answer except one. My boy asked me "what good was the stormtroopers armor if it only takes one shot to kill them?" couldn't answer him.

Well, it's an unpleasant situation. Better armor exists, but Palpatine's political party, which dominated the Republic Senate, was for cutting spending and reducing taxes, so stormtrooper armour was purchased from low-bid companies that had conveniently also made donations to Palpatine's party. And when the Republic became the Empire, the government contracting system didn't exactly become more open and transparent. Some stormtroopers were willing to spend their own money to buy better gear, but found they couldn't transport it due to mass/weight restrictions.

Oh, sure, everyone has a "Support the Stormtroopers" ribbon sticker on their landspeeder, but do they even know or care that Imperial forces have to go into battle in inferior body armor?

Give the man a cookie.

 

[FalTorPan]

The Stormtroopers' outfits don't consist of armor -- they consist of an 18-piece plastic dinnerware set, which is useful for tea time on the battlefield.

 

[nx1701g]

Stormtrooper Armor explained at Wookiepedia.

 

[Mr Light]

If everyone uses energy weapons, is shrapnel really a concern?

 

[Lindley]

Things still tend to explody quite a bit. Granted, that's not technically "shrapnel", but then the precise definition of that has been rather lost anyway. True shrapnel hasn't really been used much since the development of high explosives.

Based on the EU, CloneTrooper armor is a cheaper variation on Mandalorian armor. Exactly how *much* cheaper depends on the level of the clone. Commandos, NULLs, and ARCs all have pretty good armor, but the footsoldiers are a bit shafted.

And if regular clones get the short end of the stick, imagine how much less the Empire would be willing to spend on conscripts once the Stormtrooper ranks were opened to them.

 

[MarianLH]

If everyone uses energy weapons, is shrapnel really a concern?

The fight aboard the blockade runner contains at least two instances of a blaster bolt hitting a wall near Threepio's head and causing an explosion. Not sure if it includes solid fragments or not, but it's possible.


Marian

 

[Professor Zoom]

It's simple. The armor protects them from everything except shots fired by the Good Guys.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

Storm Trooper armor serves two purposes. It saves George money on extras by allowing him to use the same actors in scene after scene, while simultaneously granting him the power to claim that all of the Storm Troopers are clones of the same guy decades later.