SPECULATION The Role of the Stormtrooper.

^^ borrowed^^
reminds me of this "FAN ART"

 

Nice Photoshop attempt

 

It's an interesting theory, Wookieemonster. The only problem I can see is, after all of those years of Imperial oppression, I can't see the Republic wanting to keep their soldiers wearing stormtrooper armor or anything even close to it. The negative associations would just be too much.

Whatever role the stormtroopers play in the ST, I strongly suspect that it will be as an opposition force to the Republic, maybe under a regional warlord or something like that.

What if, however, the enemy had come up with a way to amass an army of Force sensitive troopers? Maybe not full-blown Jedi/Sith types, but Force sensitives who had been trained just enough to be effective with a lightsaber - as seen in that old McQuarrie painting, and as suggested by the alleged production sketch of the trooper with the vertical neck guard on his shoulder pauldrons?

(Mind you, I've got no evidence that this is actually under consideration, and it's just an idea that crossed my mind about a minute and a half ago.)

 

Slightly on the side, but related - I remember a certain mod map for Battlefront II, in which the blaster bolts/laser/whatever-you-want-to-call-them were made more representative to those in the movies, and thus "narrower". Made it hard to hit anyone even in close range, so that shots had to either be pinpoint when using small arms, or you had to spray and hope for that best, which created an interesting dynamic.

I know, not part of the movies and not even the way the official game makers created it, but an interesting way to look at it.

 

I like it, WM! As you say, not particularly original, but it's some good ol' popcorn movie fun nonetheless.

And, of course, this gets me thinking about how they could justify an army of Force sensitive troops. Since they already worked the old Sith homeworld into the Clone Wars TV series, and since it seems like they may show that world (Korriban or Moribund or Cinnebon or whatever they're calling it this week) in the ST, what if there was ancient Sith technology buried there that would "amp up" one's Force sensitivity, and that the ancient Sith had used to create their own armies. Not that it would turn the average person into a Jedi/Sith, of course, but just give them enough of a boost that they could serve effectively as lightsaber-wielding footsoldiers who wouldn't be any sort of match for the ancient Sith leadership.

Whoever the enemy is in the ST could have discovered this technology and have created a new army of mildly Force-sensitive stormtroopers who, while they weren't exactly a threat to a Jedi (or to their own masters), would certainly be a far more formidable military force than the OT stormtroopers were.

Again, I'm just spitballing here with absolutely no inside knowledge about the ST beyond what everyone else here has (and less, probably, as I'm now beginning to avoid actual spoilers a lot more than I had done before, as we're likely to be getting more nuggets of the real McCoy from this point forward.)

 

That's really cool.

That would be super awesome. Making the Stormtroopers actually formitable opponents rather than bumbling bucketheads.

 

love it !

i hope that JJ and team have seen all the trailers and movies made for 'the old republic'.. they are truly inspiring.

for anyone that hasn't seen the trailers.. firstly.. "shame on you! call yourself's star wars fans?" lol joking
the 3 original trailers are in one video here:-

 

i feel like this idea ties in with the Rebels' Inquisitor, too. he's not a Sith apprentice, just a crazy bad ass with a light saber and enough Force affinity to fight Jedi. i would imagine having a crew of these dudes coming at you would definitely be a daunting challenge if faced alone or untrained. maybe one of the new cast members is with this group (Boyega?) and turns to the good side upon meeting Luke et al.

 

Darth P, I'm feeling like this could actually work fairly well if they did it right. And it'd maybe be the best of both worlds too - the lightsaber action that we know Disney is itching to give the fans, without every saber wielder being some overpowered superhero/supervillain.

 

Maximus, I'd seen the first two Old Republic trailers (and had forgotten how good they really are) but the third one was new to me.

(I almost want to see those expanded into a full-length CGI Star Wars movie...)

 

Perhaps we can get a "sarcasm" tag to go with our "quote" and "spoiler" ones...

Here is the problem with this... taking the example of a modern day fighter, say an F-14, there is a while gaggle of AGE (Aerospace Ground Equipment) that goes with it. When you are talking about a carrier (or, in this case, a Star Destroyer) you have stowage issues. Look at the new pictures of the hanger bay, with the stacks of TIE Fighters. You aren't just going to throw a squadron of x-wings in there and expect they will function. There would be a great amount of retrofitting going on....

Should the remnant factions secure an Alliance shipyard, or (more likely) should our young heroes actually take something like Kuat, then what you would most likely see is the ships which were designed to carry TIE fighters carrying TIE fighters, and the ones designed to carry x-wings carrying x-wings (the odd one thrown into the open hanger bay aside, which are by nature more versatile in the types of craft they can handle, but more intense in the efforts for maintenance done there)

You know... I never thought of it as anything other than the troopers themselves... and weapons that were built for area-effect fire suppression (like quelling a riot) would not necessarily need to be all that accurate. At the point of the OT, the Empire really didn't have any threats, per-se (or at least none that we saw), their purpose was (more or less) "crowd control"

She seems to have an attachment to this Wampa claw on her hip...

Theoretically, all that would need to happen is for them to get one master model that they could create clones from...

Of course, the shift in the equipment that the troopers use may reveal what type of foe they are facing. The
Ralph McQuarrie concepts were designed more around "close quarter" combat. Melee combat would typically be done against other combatants using melee weapons... i.e. Jedi. It would be the first time we have seen combat gear specifically modeled for close Jedi combat... which, of course, would tend to indicate a lot of Jedi running around...

(and before someone gets their back up, CW troopers did engage Jedi, but they did it from the back, and it wasn't their "intended purpose"

Trade Federation droids, as could be seen, did rather poorly in close quarters... then again, most things do poorly in close quarters against a Jedi)

There is an interesting article floating around somewhere about Dooku's lightsaber hilt. At the time of the PT, there just really wasn't a lot of dueling going on, and the Jedi fighting style had evolved around (more or less) mowing down infantry and blocking shots. Dooku was a throwback, he was old-school, and he came to duel.

 

X-Wing's are equipped with hyperdrives whereas TIE Fighters are not so I think the only thing necessary to have a fleet of X-Wing's is a hanger. TIE Fighters require a carrier because they are short range fighters incapable of traveling long distances on their own.

Maybe I'm over-simplifying the issue, but I don't think X-Wings require that much more resources outside of a dedicated hanger.

 

Great points.

Glad to see you're using the multi-quote button

 

I think, realistically, the Alliance wouldn't take TIEs into their fleet because they were grossly underpowered and vulnerable compared to the X-Wings (canonically). The only real benefits to the TIEs for the Empire was the sheer number of them that were being produced by a dedicated (and probably proprietary) company, so they would be economical and plentiful. As far as the capital ships in the fleets go, the Alliance had no dedicated companies that would be willing to sell such large quantities of them and thus show allegiance with them, incurring Imperial wrath for such sedition. So yes, in that sense, I can see the Alliance taking on abandoned, captured or otherwise damaged and repaired Star Destroyers. And after the sort-of fall of the Empire, there would likely be many more companies out there that would be willing to support and supply them, so the fleet would be possibly less rag-tag, but more varied.

I don't see why the Empire would commission (or even pay out for) "cheap" blasters. Yes, they had to buy them in bulk for the sheer number of troopers they had, but that doesn't always mean that they're cheaply made. I've always thought that maybe the training programme at the academy wasn't necessarily as long as it should have been, and therefore resulted in sub-par soldiers with really bad aim.

On one hand, whilst it does make sense to analyse the defeat by an enemy and adapt your weaponry and armour to suit, as far as the Empire is concerned, Luke is the last Jedi, so equipping all their troops with vibroblades and Gungan-style energy shields just doesn't make sense.... Unless J.J. is, as someone said in an earlier post, planning to bring in loads of undisciplined and untrained Force-sensitive anarchists and ne'er-do-wells, then maybe it'd be warranted for them to be equipped with anti-Jedi weapons, shields and armour.

.... which ties in nicely with the rumour that Adam Driver is playing an aristocrat who is obsessed with Sith artefacts. Maybe he uncovers a Sith holocron from the days of Exar Kun (for example) and discovers the location of the "ancient Sith technology", rushing to find it in order to make himself a Force-sensitive mercenary army and fill the void left by the Emperor's death? Boyega could potentially be part of a protective detachment sent to protect Driver, who overhears Driver's true plans for galactic domination and scarpers to tell the Alliance. Christie chases after him as a deserter, not actually knowing the true plans, and learns the truth when she finds him with Ridley in the wrecked AT-AT, promptly switching sides. Maybe Christie gives them Luke's location, since they realise that they will need the galaxy's "last" remaining fully-trained Jedi to take them on. Roll credits.