So I remember Han saying that calculating the jump to lightspeed was difficult because you could end up somewhere dangerous. When Snoke’s ship jumps to lightspeed, is that ship in charge of doing the calcs for the rest of the ships that might be with them since it’s way bigger?

*minor spoilers sorta*

I expect that, since the Supremacy was the ship with the hyperspace tracker equipped, its navicomputer would perform the calculations and then transmit the them (or just the destination, and allow the others to calculate a route) to the other ships. Its size shouldn’t really make a difference, no ship would exit hyperspace close enough to a celestial body that a bigger ship following the same route could hit it. If the navicomputer and hyperdrive are both in working order, a hyperspace jump is usually relatively safe. 

~ Jacen

what do you think will be the biggest factor in rebuilding the Resistance? Is it people? supplies? support from the outside?

*TLJ spoilers ahead*

It seems to me like their most urgent needs as of TLJ will be personnel and ships, especially after the destruction of the Raddus and most of the rest of the Resistance fleet. I can only assume that this support will come from the New Republic (once they finally acknowledge the First Order as a real threat), because they don’t really have anywhere else to get capital ships, new starfighters, etc. It’s my personal prediction that the Resistance won’t exactly be rebuilt in the next movie so much as reintegrated into the New Republic as one cohesive military, which would certainly help ease the strain on resources, even though the New Republic isn’t exactly your ideal fighting force what with the demilitarization and all. 

~ Jacen

Do you think it’s better to research a planet or just make a new one up? I’m trying to find one that is human-inhabited but that might be in the midst of a civil war because of loyalty to the First Order/Empire nostalgia. Perhaps a mining community or one important in trade and supplies?

I personally prefer to pick an existing planet when possible, partially because I like to stick to canon and partially because I’m too lazy to make one up, but I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. There isn’t a whole lot of information available about the politics and astrography of the First Order, and I’m afraid I don’t know of any such planet, so you may want to just make this one up. 

~ Jacen

How often were non-humans hired by the Empire? It was incredibly rare within the Imperial Navy, but I wonder what was the human to alien ratio for example in the Imperial ministries like the Ministry of Information on Coruscant. Thank for blessing us with your wonderful blog, I’ve just discovered it and can’t stop reading.

I do know of several non-humans who worked with/for the Empire, but they didn’t tend to get high-level positions. Often, it was more like they worked with an organization that was hired/affiliated with the Empire, rather than working directly with them. An alien in a government job (discounting senators and the like) would be a rare sight. Unfortunately, since a lot of known Imperial ministries and other organizations are just listed in sourcebooks and don’t include the members, I couldn’t tell you for sure how many aliens work in these jobs. However, since the Ministry of Information was a subdivision of the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, which was known to be extremely anti-alien in attitude as well as in the propaganda it put out, I would say it’s very unlikely that an alien would work in that ministry in particular. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

What material(s) is standard-issue Imperial stormtrooper armor made of? Are all armor designs used by the Imperial forces (eg TIE pilot, AT-AT commander, scout trooper and magmatrooper armor) made with the same material(s)?

It’s made of plastoid, and no, not all armour used by the Imperial Military is the same. Magma troopers, for example, wear armour reinforced with Duravlex, and death troopers’ armour is described as being much more advanced than the standard plastoid armour. Most stormtrooper variants wear armour with the same basic plastoid base. 

~ Jacen