Galactic Mysteries

[Valkore Fraust]

Ahah. It takes Luke a long time to get a lightsaber stuck in snow, but this guy clears a hallway just by coughing.

Star Destroyers own. Couldn't they target him from up there?  

[Darkened Angel]

That does bring up an issue.

They can glass a planet from orbit, but they can't do that same thing when trying to kill a Jedi? Given, they might have a hard time targetting a guy that's able to move around, but they could at least try to guess a target spot and just blanket the general area.  

[Valkore Fraust]

There were TIE fighters going after him. Would it be possible for them to laze targets?

When my friends and I debated this, we decided the best answer was, "Lucas--Greed" lol  

[Sol Walker]

Darkened Angel

That does bring up an issue.

They can glass a planet from orbit, but they can't do that same thing when trying to kill a Jedi? Given, they might have a hard time targetting a guy that's able to move around, but they could at least try to guess a target spot and just blanket the general area.

The ship was under repairs and was probably too undercrewed to make real use of her weapons. That or the weapon sections were under maintenance.  

[Valkore Fraust]

When it comes to TFU, I don't know if they had reasoning behind some things. Other than the good old green stuff ($).  

[Magda Strongfang]

Well....here's something that's boggled my mind. If Palpatine had an army that were clones in the Clone Wars, why did he need to enlist volunteer/non-clone soliders? He had battle-trained warriors...Hell, I would've still enforced the training for the ARC units.  

[Sol Walker]

Because with Jango dead, the supply of fresh Fettcells was limited. Plus, its generally accepted that Clones age faster than humans, so they won't be available for long. Furthermore, there was always the risk that a single biological weapon, cued to Fett's DNA, could kill off his entire army.
So he got new clonehosts, recruited nonclone personnel, and made the Stormtrooper corps the way it is.
plus, Conscripts and nonclone personel are cheaper than an all clone army in the long run.  

[stellarmagic]

Well I think that the Grand Army of the Republic was pretty badly battered by the end of the Clone Wars, the Clone Wars cartoon continually shows the GAR fighting battles at far less than full strength.

For example... the first Battle of Ryloth.

Anakin has at his disposal... 3 Venator-class Star Destroyers, 1 squadron of starfighters, and a reserve bomber formation (used in the second battle). Now consider that established combat strength of a single Venator is 420 starfighters.

It sounds like even in the clone wars there's a chronic shortage of fighter pilots. Other scenes in the series suggest an effective strength of 10% of established size or less for ground forces. If that wasn't enough, the kaminoan facilities are destroyed shortly before the events in Return of the Sith.

Now consider what Palpatine must do in the immediate wake of his deceleration of Empire! He needs to garrison thousands of former seperatist worlds, and garrison thousands of republic worlds to ensure his rule. He needs an army, and he needs it now.

Spaarti cloning takes 1 year, Kaminoan cloning takes 7 years, and basic training takes 6 weeks. Hmmm... I wonder why he recruited an army.  

[Valkore Fraust]

I like the idea of recruits. It's a good way to show some Imperial pride and serve.

Did Imperial recruits have as shitty a life as the clones? Like the medical care, publicity, etc.  

[Sol Walker]

No, recruits had better medical care.  

[Darkened Angel]

The clones were literally bred for obedience and loyalty, right? So yeah, that would make sense. A clone you could more or less treat as less than human, whereas a recruit still maintains their own will, so their loyalty isn't as absolute, requiring they get a little better treatment than a clone would.  

[Valkore Fraust]

When it comes to Stormtroopers, I think of the Wermacht. Total loyalty, without question. Maybe a bit corrupt, but, hey. "Thas life."  

[Sol Walker]

The Wermacht was disciplined and loyal, but not totally. Remember that the Wermacht is the catch term for the German Military which also included the Navy, perhaps the greatest concentration of Nazi despising Germans in the 3rd Reich outside of a prison camp.
Were they loyal? To the Fatherland yes. But they could do without the nazis.
See, the image you have, Fraust, is the one given to us by hollywood and propaganda, which, while having elements of truth to it, is a gross exaggeration of the Wermacht as a whole.

What you're really refering to is the Waffen SS, the militant branch of the SS organization, which would perhaps be more on Par, in Star Wars, with CompForce.

The Stormtroopers are incorruptible. Perhaps a rare few of the officer class, but the legions of armored warriors it can field can not be bribed, threatened, or seduced.

If anything, the Stormtrooper Corps has a closer analog with our Marine Corps.  

[stellarmagic]

Actually Cale, I'd say the Volksturm and Hitlerjunge are Compforce.

Allgemeine SS would be the Imperial Royal Guards and the Waffen SS would be the Stormtrooper Corps.

Wehrmacht were professional soldiers, more loyal to Germany then the Nazis. Lets face it, most all the attempts to assassinate Hitler were made by Wehrmacht officers.

Then there's the Luftwaffe and their ground component the Fallschirmjaegar. Both have much cleaner records in terms of war crimes, though they aren't completely unblemished... there's the Blitz and the Fallschirmjaegar pacification of Crete. The Fallschirmjaegar had a chivalrous streak that made them strange combatants. In normandy there's stories of the German Fallschirmjaegar returning captured medics, giving dinners to captured officers, and all that. At the same time, they were damn good fighters.

Just ask E Company of the 501st, the defenders of Carentan were Fallschirmjaegar as well as the force that chased them off Hell's Highway during Operation Market Garden.

Then there's the Kriegsmarine... The least Nazified branch of the German military. They never adopted the salute, and had a number of jewish officers in their ranks. They also got a really bloody nose early in the war during the Battle of Norway and never really recovered. Hence the focus on submarine warfare against Britain.  

[Valkore Fraust]

I meant the Waffen SS** That's a mistake on my part. I'm learning about the Wermacht in my history class now, my bad.

Both elite and loyal. I wouldn't compare Stormtroopers to US Marines for a few reasons (kind of personal [potential recruit]). Mainly because I see the 3rd Reich in the Empire. US Marines have a variety of ethnic backgrounds, SS have one. Stormtroopers are all human (some clones), Rebels have a mix of aliens. That's where I get my view from.