What the heck are StormTroopers in the game (minor Solo stuff)

By Hawktel, in Star Wars: Legion

Watched Solo.. Some minor spoilers..but when you combine in Solo, R1, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, and you now have storm troopers:

Solo – Acting like Roid Raging TSA agents. But not really participating in the battle on unnamed planets?

Rogue 1, Acting like garrison troopers in Space, and on Space Ships, but not external to the facility, where Shore Troopers are the external security force?

ANH where they do a ship boarding actions?, And Do SAR for Droids, and garrison the Death Star? And act again like TSA agents on Tattooine?

ESB, where they take over Bespin, and various other actions, but Snow Troopers take Echo Base?

ROTJ when they again garrison the Death Star, and garrison the shield generator when they aren't losing to Teddy bears?

And compounding the issue, now in Solo you see that the empire has a normal army.

So if Stormtroopers are Marine equivalents, why are they guarding a Terminal in Solo, and transporting Kyber Crystals in R1?

If they are a special Ops unit, why are they garrisoning the Death Stars/ Shield Generators?

If they are the main troopers for the Empire, why are they not the main participants in the fight on whatever planet Solo was fighting on?

I mean I do understand your talking about 5 movies over 40+ years, and several of them with no real continuity director. But they should think these out a little.

2 minutes ago, Hawktel said:

Watched Solo.. Some minor spoilers..but when you combine in Solo, R1, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, and you now have storm troopers:

Solo – Acting like Roid Raging TSA agents. But not really participating in the battle on unnamed planets?

Rogue 1, Acting like garrison troopers in Space, and on Space Ships, but not external to the facility, where Shore Troopers are the external security force?

ANH where they do a ship boarding actions?, And Do SAR for Droids, and garrison the Death Star? And act again like TSA agents on Tattooine?

ESB, where they take over Bespin, and various other actions, but Snow Troopers take Echo Base?

ROTJ when they again garrison the Death Star, and garrison the shield generator when they aren't losing to Teddy bears?

And compounding the issue, now in Solo you see that the empire has a normal army.

So if Stormtroopers are Marine equivalents, why are they guarding a Terminal in Solo, and transporting Kyber Crystals in R1?

If they are a special Ops unit, why are they garrisoning the Death Stars/ Shield Generators?

If they are the main troopers for the Empire, why are they not the main participants in the fight on whatever planet Solo was fighting on?

I mean I do understand your talking about 5 movies over 40+ years, and several of them with no real continuity director. But they should think these out a little.

The Swamptroopers (Mudtroopers) in SOLO are the last remenents of the Imperial Army, which is being phased out in favour of the Stormtrooper Corps.

As the better trained and more efficent replacement for the Imperial Army, they would fill any roles the regular army would along with specilized roles specific to a troopers operating conditions.

The Imperial Navy actually has specific marines called Naval Troopers (Death Star Troopers) for ship-board operations, but Stormtroopers are brought along for more general purporse operations.

These garrison and guard duties we see are all at top secret facillities or directly involved in Vaders operations (Snowtroopers are Just Stormtroopers wearing Cold Environment Gear).

So in fact we only see the Empires Elite in most movies because they are set at important places in important times.

10 minutes ago, Indy_com said:

The Swamptroopers (Mudtroopers) in SOLO are the last remenents of the Imperial Army, which is being phased out in favour of the Stormtrooper Corps.

But see this don't seem to hold up. If Stormtroopers are the new Troop, why are prolific in holding down a Terminal in Coriellia 3 years before Solo is shooting it out in the Army as a mud trooper?

I don't think they are bad, or a problem, for the movie, loved the movie, but I wish someone would lay out a TOE for the various phases for the Empire, and then make some directors stick to it.

1 minute ago, Hawktel said:

But see this don't seem to hold up. If Stormtroopers are the new Troop, why are prolific in holding down a Terminal in Coriellia 3 years before Solo is shooting it out in the Army as a mud trooper?

I don't think they are bad, or a problem, for the movie, loved the movie, but I wish someone would lay out a TOE for the various phases for the Empire, and then make some directors stick to it.

Please tell me the last time you saw the Royal Marines working as Airport Security.

The Stormtroopers are trained to fill a verity of roles, whilst the Imperial Army are exactly as stated on the tin.

Correlia is a major assest for the Empire, being a major shipbuilder for them. As such the level of security there would be immense, hence the Airport Security Stormtroopers.

Also, the spaceport doubled as an Imperial Recruitment Center so the Troopers may also be there for PR purposes.

4 hours ago, Indy_com said:

The Swamptroopers (Mudtroopers) in SOLO are the last remenents of the Imperial Army, which is being phased out in favour of the Stormtrooper Corps.

As the better trained and more efficent replacement for the Imperial Army, they would fill any roles the regular army would along with specilized roles specific to a troopers operating conditions.

The Imperial Navy actually has specific marines called Naval Troopers (Death Star Troopers) for ship-board operations, but Stormtroopers are brought along for more general purporse operations.

Yeah didn't care much for making Solo a member of the Imperial Army. I mean Han Solo < Stormtrooper. It just doesn't make sense to me.

But yeah the imperial army, they were just there to die for the Emperor. Lets turn them into swarm type miniatures army.

Codex_Imperial_Guard_3E.jpg

From the wiki/visual guide book and was posted in another thread.

Early in the rule of the Galactic Empire, the Imperial Army deployed soldiers separate from stormtroopers. They were often members of local planetary defense forces who fought during the Clone Wars and were conscripted into the Imperial Military. The Imperial Army gradually upgraded and replaced the soldiers with stormtroopers. Swamp troopers were soldiers of the Imperial Army that were classified as regular infantry, and not stormtroopers.

Stormtroopers have, at least in the past and various EU sources, been a separate corps that fulfills multiple roles in both the Imperial Army and Navy.

They are flashy and intimidating. They fight well and they operate in their own command structure.

Black Uniformed officers have traditionally been Officers of the Stormtrooper Corps. Grey Uniforms denoted Army or Navy and White denoted Imperial Security Bureau.

Here's how I see it. There were the various forces of the republic. After the Battle of Geonosis you had Those normal forces plus the Clone Army being lead by a separate command structure of the Jedi Knights, all of which, put together, created the Grand Army of the Republic.

Clone ranks filled every role imaginable. They were guards, pilots, infantry, special forces.....but there were plenty of non-clone Officers and NCOs in the Army and Navy.

After the war when the clones were phased out (something I wish was not canon, but is), the Stormtrooper Corps took on the role that the Clones had previously filled. They adopted the uniform and look. They were likely trained by the remaining Clone officers who hadn't yet mustered out.

Take these guys:

mNJ7O95.jpg

Those are Galactic Marines from the battle of Mygeeto taking out Kai Adi Mundi during Order 66 (Revenge of the Sith)

Now, we know they are clones, because they are following order 66 and their uniform looks definitely similar to Snowtroopers, such that some of us here are just calling those the Galactic Marines.

You've got a galaxy of trillions of beings. That's a really big military.

Having a separate branch that can plug in where needed and can fulfill multiple roles ins't that much of a stretch.

(or, as someone else pointed out in a different threat, think Whermacht vs. Waffen SS, both technically do the same thing and serve the same government but everything else is very different)

Edited by Zrob314

There's a common misconception that troop types just boil down to elite or not-elite. In reality it's far less binary. I'll use the US Army as a example since that's what I'm most familiar with.

-At the lowest tier of training would just be a basic infantryman from a more typical Division structure. They've gone through Basic Training and Infantry school and will spend most of their time on combat training or maintaining equipment, but aren't by any means elite or specialized unless they are previously from a different unit that had additional training.

-Next tier up would be something like the 82nd or 101st Airborne Division. While they've gone through Basic and Infantry schools, these units also require all combat and the majority of non-combat personnel to take more specialized training classes (Airborne for the 82nd and Air Assault for the 101st). A soldier from either division will have additional skills applicable to combat and these divisions also pride themselves on a certain espirit de corps and so generally hold their soldiers to higher standards.

-Then you have more of the side grades like the 10th Mountain division where the extra training is more related to specific environments/tasks and less directly to combat. These units when outside of their element are not wildly distinct from normal infantry, but within their specialization will outperform most other units to a substantial degree.

-Next tier up would be something like US Army Rangers. They have considerable amounts of extra training, both physically and mentally and receive much better equipment than any above examples. They also fall under the heading of SOCOM and can be called upon upon for special operations as needed, but they also regularly operate within a more traditional command structure. They're elite and Special Operations Forces, but they're not quite as good as the next tier.

-Special Forces is the top of the Army elite. Best training, best equipment, thorough selection process, rarely operate within the normal order of battle in combat. This is the Hollywood tier of special forces i.e. the very small teams that go in for missions that nobody wants to acknowledge are happening.

To put it simply, there's a lot of granularity in how elite soldiers are from basic infantry, to more specialized, to elite divisions, to Regiment/battalion size elite units, all the way to the types of operators we're used to seeing in movies.

10 hours ago, Hawktel said:

But see this don't seem to hold up. If Stormtroopers are the new Troop, why are prolific in holding down a Terminal in Coriellia 3 years before Solo is shooting it out in the Army as a mud trooper?

I don't think they are bad, or a problem, for the movie, loved the movie, but I wish someone would lay out a TOE for the various phases for the Empire, and then make some directors stick to it.

Because phasing out a galaxy wide institution in favour for another galaxy wide institution takes a long time.

Imagine I said to you I want to completely replace the entire... I dunno, US military. Everyone currently working, I want gone. And replaced by entire new recruits. How long do you reckon that might take?

Years. Many years. And that's just one country, on one planet.

58 minutes ago, Chucknuckle said:

Because phasing out a galaxy wide institution in favour for another galaxy wide institution takes a long time.

Imagine I said to you I want to completely replace the entire... I dunno, US military. Everyone currently working, I want gone. And replaced by entire new recruits. How long do you reckon that might take?

Years. Many years. And that's just one country, on one planet.

Also Corellia is an important shipyard world. So it makes sense they get storm troopers before other worlds.

Or that the first roles for which Stormtroopers were used were policing/peacekeeping roles, where their zealous loyalty could be exploited by the Imperials.

storm troopers modern analog is something like a piece keeping force. Or a highly militarized police force.

They are used to control situations. And terrorize people into obedience.

While they do end up fighting the rebellion they are not really war fighters. I’m guessing the need for army men is small enough that it does not make much sense to keep highly specialized military war fighters everywhere. Instead they have those storm trooper guys.

Kind of like how how I feel the Tie fighter is the space equivalent of a cop car. Great for controlling civilians but pretty terrible and psychotic to try and fight a tank (x-wing) in one.

Oh I dunno, they seem to be portrayed doing the bulk of the fighting in Star Wars media, from the comics and novels as well as the movies. They seem to be the "everything" trooper of the Empire. High recognisable, (presumably) competent and efficient, able to effectively terrorise the population of any given planet. Certain units within the Stormtrooper corp would almost certainly have specialist training, like the 'mountaineers' of the Snowtroopers (although these could also just be regular dudes in winter woolies) the Deathtroopers, Scouts, etc. And then you get true elites like SCAR squad in the comics.

All the information I've heard the progression was:

Clone troopers grown and co-oped by Ben Kenobi. becomes the major armed ground force of the Republic.

Republic co-oped by Palpatine, Order 666, becomes the Galactic Empire.

Clone troopers phased out for Storm Troopers.

Somewhere for some reason an Imperial Army is created, Han Solo enlisted in it, and it fights on some planet.

16 hours ago, Hawktel said:

All the information I've heard the progression was:

Clone troopers grown and co-oped by Ben Kenobi. becomes the major armed ground force of the Republic.

Republic co-oped by Palpatine, Order 666, becomes the Galactic Empire.

Clone troopers phased out for Storm Troopers.

Somewhere for some reason an Imperial Army is created, Han Solo enlisted in it, and it fights on some planet.

Close.

The Imperial Army was the various planetary defense forces from the time of the Republic being merged into one and rebranded.

Edited by Indy_com

George Lucas couldn't keep things consistent within a single movie, much less between movies. Most of the problems you point out have to do with the need to sell action figures and the whims of a director/self-proclaimed "storeyteller" who couldn't be bothered with such details.

On 5/29/2018 at 7:15 AM, Hawktel said:

But see this don't seem to hold up. If Stormtroopers are the new Troop, why are prolific in holding down a Terminal in Coriellia 3 years before Solo is shooting it out in the Army as a mud trooper?

I don't think they are bad, or a problem, for the movie, loved the movie, but I wish someone would lay out a TOE for the various phases for the Empire, and then make some directors stick to it.

If only Disney had someone in charge of continuity... O wait they do unfortunately I have no idea what he actually does.

2 hours ago, Tirion said:

If only Disney had someone in charge of continuity... O wait they do unfortunately I have no idea what he actually does.

Point: Disney doesn’t.

LucasFilmLTD does ?

Well you have your fodder you can throw at a small time planet not worth real resources and then you have Lord Vader's troops and troops supporting the most important battle station in galactic history be it securing kyber crystals or the DS plans. Either way, they aren't using the unarmored throw away troops on the important stuff.

That is why we see such a downgrade in the troops in solo. It was to make a visual point that the conflict wasn't significant to the Empire.

BTW Coriellia is one of the core worlds of the Empire. The battle Solo was in, looked to be an out of the way outer rim conflict. Storm troopers were fairly common but not the lowest rung on the ladder.

PSA: The planet from Solo that the Empire was attacking is called Mimban and its located in the Expansion Region.

Fun Fact: It was originally conceived as a 'Bog Planet' where Luke would learn from Yoda (which eventually became Dagobah). It was recycled into the primary setting of the first (albeit terrible) EU book Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

It was also given a mention during the first season of Clone Wars

Edited by KommanderKeldoth

"This next one goes out to the Mud Jumpers of the 224th, slugging it out on Mimban. Keep your heads down and your seals tight, boys." -Radio Announcer during the clone wars

The mud jumpers are a clone trooper unit attached to the 224th division of the Grand Army of the Republic, which were the local mostly-non-clone security forces that fought the CIS and trained a guerrilla army. That Mimbanese liberation army doesn't take kindly to the rise of the empire, and that's who we see fighting the now-224th imperial armored division, which is mostly made up of conscripted local security forces like Han but has some stormtrooper units too:

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Edited by phi3927
On 5/29/2018 at 6:54 AM, Hawktel said:

Watched Solo.. Some minor spoilers..but when you combine in Solo, R1, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, and you now have storm troopers:

Solo – Acting like Roid Raging TSA agents. But not really participating in the battle on unnamed planets?

Rogue 1, Acting like garrison troopers in Space, and on Space Ships, but not external to the facility, where Shore Troopers are the external security force?

ANH where they do a ship boarding actions?, And Do SAR for Droids, and garrison the Death Star? And act again like TSA agents on Tattooine?

ESB, where they take over Bespin, and various other actions, but Snow Troopers take Echo Base?

ROTJ when they again garrison the Death Star, and garrison the shield generator when they aren't losing to Teddy bears?

And compounding the issue, now in Solo you see that the empire has a normal army.

So if Stormtroopers are Marine equivalents, why are they guarding a Terminal in Solo, and transporting Kyber Crystals in R1?

If they are a special Ops unit, why are they garrisoning the Death Stars/ Shield Generators?

If they are the main troopers for the Empire, why are they not the main participants in the fight on whatever planet Solo was fighting on?

I mean I do understand your talking about 5 movies over 40+ years, and several of them with no real continuity director. But they should think these out a little.

Solo: They're providing security for one of the Empire's most important naval shipyards. So controlling who gets on and off the planet makes sense. Note they aren't patrolling the streets, only the spaceport.

Rogue 1: That was the Empire's main data storage center. Basically Fort Knox. Shore Troopers are just a type of Stormtrooper(like Snowtroopers).

ANH: They're chasing rebels who just stole the most sensitive information in the galaxy.

ESB: Stormtroopers=Snowtroopers. Just with different equipment. And again, they're chasing Luke. The most wanted man in the Galaxy.

ROTJ: Deathstar is the most important military installation in the Galaxy. As for the teddy bears...

Stormtroopers are the Elite troops for the Empire. They do garrison duties as well as special missions.

To use an example from WW2. The Stormtroopers are the SS. They're elite line troops which conduct important battlefield assignments and garrison duties. While the units that Solo was in are equivalent to the Wermacht, the actual German army.