So I recently read the book "Before The Awakening" which deals with the backstory of TFA's new leads Rey, Finn and Poe, with the latter being the most interesting one as it's chalk full of additional info about The Republic, Resistance and The First Order. By now some of you might already know that the Republic uses T-85s instead of the slightly older T-70 which the Resistance use in the film but there is another very interesting tidbit in the book, namely that the Resistance has capital ships.

It does not explicitly mention how big or small the Resistance fleet is but it does specifically name 2 ships; Mon Calamari cruisers Home One and Echo of Hope. I thought this was cool as it makes sense that the Resistance would've retained some old warships from the Galactic Civil War era and it also gives them a little more teeth as opposed to what we were lead to believe is a small militia force made up of only starfighters. Just wanted to put this out there since most fans are (rightly) assuming that Leia's new Resistance is pathetic compared the Rebel Alliance in ANH and also cuz this makes it more likely we'll see both Resistance and First Order warships in Armada.

Bonus info - The First Order in the book still uses ISDs alongside the newer Resurgent class SDs as well as Nebulon-K Frigates and other assortment of smaller support ships. I wonder how the new frigates defer from the older Nebulon-Bs. Please feel free to discuss:)

Is the book well written?

I suppose you're asking if it's like Aftermath. It isn't but they're also short stories so you'll burn through them in less than a day. Personally I think it's well written so take that how you will.

Poe's story though reminds me of the old X-wing novels, which is cool:)

TFA Spoiler, don't open if you don't want it ruined.

TFA Spoiler, don't open if you don't want it ruined.

If Home One bit the big one at Hosnian Prime, that would be a thematically horrible ending to a ship that has so much (even if its Legends) lore behind it. It would be tantamount to killing off the Excelsior in the next Trek film in the extreme background before we had a chance to see the new version.

I'm thinking that the New Republic fleet could be substituted into a game of Armada if you agreed with an opponent. Just put all the asteroids from X-Wing into a tight cluster then surround it with all of your debris fields!

Don't worry, he specificaly said Resistance, not Republic.

TFA Spoiler, don't open if you don't want it ruined.

If Home One bit the big one at Hosnian Prime, that would be a thematically horrible ending to a ship that has so much (even if its Legends) lore behind it. It would be tantamount to killing off the Excelsior in the next Trek film in the extreme background before we had a chance to see the new version.

I'm thinking that the New Republic fleet could be substituted into a game of Armada if you agreed with an opponent. Just put all the asteroids from X-Wing into a tight cluster then surround it with all of your debris fields!

Don't worry, he specificaly said Resistance, not Republic.

The space pickles that got blowed up at the Hosnian system were probably shiny new pickles, not 30+ year old ships. I assume capitol ships can survive at least as long as real world naval ships but between the Empire ditching brand new Venators for Victory and Imperial SDs within a year or two I don't doubt the New Republic ditched any captured ISDs and built a new fleet of cruisers to distance itself from both the Rebellion and the Empire. Good to hear the FO still has some ISDs stashed somewhere.

TFA Spoiler, don't open if you don't want it ruined.

If Home One bit the big one at Hosnian Prime, that would be a thematically horrible ending to a ship that has so much (even if its Legends) lore behind it. It would be tantamount to killing off the Excelsior in the next Trek film in the extreme background before we had a chance to see the new version.

I'm thinking that the New Republic fleet could be substituted into a game of Armada if you agreed with an opponent. Just put all the asteroids from X-Wing into a tight cluster then surround it with all of your debris fields!

Don't worry, he specificaly said Resistance, not Republic.

The space pickles that got blowed up at the Hosnian system were probably shiny new pickles, not 30+ year old ships. I assume capitol ships can survive at least as long as real world naval ships but between the Empire ditching brand new Venators for Victory and Imperial SDs within a year or two I don't doubt the New Republic ditched any captured ISDs and built a new fleet of cruisers to distance itself from both the Rebellion and the Empire. Good to hear the FO still has some ISDs stashed somewhere.

I agree, although I'd like to point out that the Venators weren't obsolete, they just didn't follow Imperial Doctrine (Venator/Air Craft Carrier vs. ISD/Battleship)

And, newcanon comics (I think the Darth Vader series) show Venators still in service in the OT era.

Part of me wonders if the entire "Starkiller Base destroys the seat of the Republic" bit was shoehorned in simply to make the Resistance the underdog group again.

Goodbye, New Republic fleet (we barely knew ye). Suddenly the First Order are the dominant force again.

Sounds like I need to read this book.

Part of me wonders if the entire "Starkiller Base destroys the seat of the Republic" bit was shoehorned in simply to make the Resistance the underdog group again.

Goodbye, New Republic fleet (we barely knew ye). Suddenly the First Order are the dominant force again.

Nah, it was probably / hopefully in there to bring the might of the Republic to bear. It'll allow for stuff in between the movies like Clone Wars.