tl;dr: If the entire fleet were needed to deal with a threat, and some fraction of it did not return, what sorts of effects might be seen across the galaxy in the ESB era?

In my campaign, I've been playing fast and loose with the lore in a lot of ways. My players have been poking into the history of the Infinite Empire (which is essentially lost lore in this galaxy) and in the process managed to awake a hive of self-replicating machines that a Rakatan science enclave had created to defend/power/whatever a computer core made up of the downloaded brains of the members of the enclave (dying of the plague, wanted to live forever, etc).

Anyway, the players run away and lock the door behind them. The door is enough to stop the self replicating worms, so it's all good. Then they tell me 'We call the local imperial garrison and tell them to stay away'.

'You do .. what?'

'Yeah, we call them and tell them not to go there.'

... Mentally tally a lot of dark side points and fast forward a few in game months.

The planet is gone. The SR Worms got out, ate everything (there wasn't enough imperial presence on the planet to stop them), and turned the planet into a Star Wars version of Unicron or Galactus.

The fleet gets wind of it and they lose a couple of Star Destroyers and the rest of the fleet comes in for the kill and destroy the planet/machine, losing some percentage in the process.

This all happens behind the scenes to the players. They've already heard news reports that Dathomir is missing and random people are talking about another Death Star, but the players aren't sure. The question is, what sorts of disruptions might occur if the fleet just isn't available to police the galaxy for a few weeks or months?

The question is, what sorts of disruptions might occur if the fleet just isn't available to police the galaxy for a few weeks or months?

Or longer... you can't just mass crank out Star Destroyers... and a Living Weapon Planet might do a number on the Fleet.

Anyway, to answer the base question, IMO:

If local Criminal Elements (large organizational elements; like Hutts, Black Sun, Rebellions, etc) discovered a power vacuum of indeterminate length (but verifiable) they'd certainly attempt to capitalize. For instance, overthrowing local Planetary forces to achieve some long or short term goal (raiding military bases, taking systems that were under defended previous and are no completely undefended, etc).

Only the fleet would be unavailable. The stationed ground troops and garrison units would likely still be present.

Based on Legends, above 25.000 ISD are available on episodes 4-6 (probably thousands of other important starships too).

Always is said that there are a few millions of systems that can interest galactic empire "Only 69,000,000 of those systems meet population requirements for Imperial representation" (Wookiepedia/Legends).

So, make your own calculations but, maybe a small patrol ship, but I think that ISD are only in major systems (political/resources).

It depends how long they're gone and whether anyone knows.

A powerful and politically reliable starfleet is the lynchpin of the Empire. Not only can it crush almost any open revolt, but it also provides the security that is the main reason so many beings are willing to support or at least accept Imperial control.

If the fleet abandoned a sector for whatever reason, it'd probably look something like this:

- Within days: a rush of smuggling, as individual captains jump at the chance to make easy credits.

- Within weeks: an rise in piracy, preying upon the unprotected shipping in the region.

- Within months: an influx of refugees, Rebel agents, and growing local government autonomy.

- Within years: either a revolution or a government defection to the Alliance or another faction.

EDIT: obviously, this timeline applies better to outlying sectors. The major Core Worlds wouldn't be stripped of their fleet presence for anything less than an extragalactic invasion.

Joker Two makes a good point. Even if the Imperial Starfleet loses 1,000 Star Destroyers annihilating the planet-weapon, they still have 25,000 on the field. Protecting the Deep Core, the Core, the Inner Rim, and the Mid Rim isn't an issue. What would be an issue is the Empire's relatively tenuous grasp on the Outer Rim. Except the Outer Rim to get a lot more loose in terms of Imperial power projection and control. Crime and general rebellious efforts are going to increase on a broad stage.

How fast do you think they could replace the ships? for something like that I would imagine that new ships would be put on rush order and that "mothballed" ships would be pulled back into service.

How quickly could new crews be trained and could existing crews be stretched to fill the new ships?

I think that the answers to these questions would help determine the effects of the lost battle.

Thanks guys. Good insights.

The way I see it, the Living Planet (as evileeyore named it...good name), encounters some fleet elements and assimilates most of them. The ones that get away call in some bigger guns and a second, larger force is dispatched to beat it. This would represent a relatively small number of ships against the vastness of the fleet, but would be noticeable to criminal elements in the area.

That force is also assimilated (and the planet evolves a few new toys, like turbolasers, in the process), and major fleet elements are called in as the planet nears a nearby system and prepares to send off feeding elements to pick up a few new companion planets.

The arrival of several Interdictor cruisers puts a stop to that, and the ship, long enough for a major fleet incursion to blow it into atomic dust. Without a handy-dandy Death Star, it'd take a tremendous fleet presence to actually destroy the planet. Because of the assimilation of the turbolaser technology, the would lose more ships, but not as many as if the ship was free to lob blobs of setlf-replicating worms at the fleet vessels (which is what happened to the first groups).

Overall, a matter of several weeks or months, but real-time intersteller transmission times cuts drastically into the problems of command, control, and coordination.

One thing that came to mind ...

when so many SDs get destroyed by such an unique enemy the Imperial Fleet will have to work on new toys for the future or to boost their existing fleet.

So they may shrink for a bit for some time but the rest will be more driven and upgraded.

Not that much of an advantage for the criminals and rebels.

As long as Kuat, Sullust, Fondor and the Core shipwrights remain in Imperial control those new ships will be available in a few years.

And don't forget the required personell for the new ships. I dare to say that it will take longer to train the new crews than to build those ships.

As long as Kuat, Sullust, Fondor and the Core shipwrights remain in Imperial control those new ships will be available in a few years.

And don't forget the required personell for the new ships. I dare to say that it will take longer to train the new crews than to build those ships.

Oh definitely. Crews are the real bottleneck. Not so much the training as the political screening. There are really three options:

- call up reservists and retired personnel (many of whom are likely there because of concerns about their loyalty)

- absorb various sector forces (which leads to factionalism)

- resume accelerated cloning (which turns out much lower quality personnel)

Palpatine would likely go with the latter, as quality has always been secondary to quantity and loyalty for him.

Do not forget: In the Legends EU one of the reasons the Empire became much more grey was that they were low on personell and therefore even recruited aliens. Depending what motivations the GM gives Palpatine (YV existence) Palpi might be forced to take back old officers from the Clone Wars with their old-school mindset and aliens to bolster his ranks.

He might even be desperate enough to take Dac (officially neutral) to get their shipwrights. That might cost him some ships, but given the productivity of the Cals and Quarrens it might be worth the risk.

The Alliance will be forced to make a stand there to not loose their big guns. And a Rebellion without the MC80s is a dead Rebellion. They had nothing else being able to stand up to those SDs. Palpi would need to be desperate, but loosing a few hundred SDs against 1 enemy might make him desperate enough.

What if Palpy lets the Rebel Alliance know and hopes to use them to tackle the living planet, weaking themselves and beacoming an easy target for destruction with the main fleet?

I could even see imperial officals kind of making a deal with the Alliance to unite against the common enemy...with the Emperor ready to pull anoter order 66 and wipe the rebels out after the rakatan threat is removed.

It depends how long they're gone and whether anyone knows.

A powerful and politically reliable starfleet is the lynchpin of the Empire. Not only can it crush almost any open revolt, but it also provides the security that is the main reason so many beings are willing to support or at least accept Imperial control.

If the fleet abandoned a sector for whatever reason, it'd probably look something like this:

- Within days: a rush of smuggling, as individual captains jump at the chance to make easy credits.

- Within weeks: an rise in piracy, preying upon the unprotected shipping in the region.

- Within months: an influx of refugees, Rebel agents, and growing local government autonomy.

- Within years: either a revolution or a government defection to the Alliance or another faction.

EDIT: obviously, this timeline applies better to outlying sectors. The major Core Worlds wouldn't be stripped of their fleet presence for anything less than an extragalactic invasion.

As an interesting corollary on the above, your PCs have now single-handedly not only made vast numbers of law-abiding and pirate / war fearing citizens see the need for the Empire, but with this specific threat your PCs will have actually managed to get a goodly portion of the galaxy petitioning the Emperor to build another Death Star.

Good job, players. You just turned the Empire into the Good Guys in the eyes of most citizens everywhere.