Tag: galactic empire

How was Coruscant protected at the height of the empires power? How would palpatine ensure that the stationed fleet can’t turn against him?

Coruscant was guarded by the First Army, a powerful reserve fleet put in place during the Clone Wars. The rest of the Core Worlds surrounding the Coruscant Sector were also protected by their own sector armies, numbered two through seven, making it very difficult for enemy operatives to fly or land in the area without detection. Coruscant also had the benefit of a very big on-world security force and a large population of rich humans to support Palpatine. 

I doubt that Palpatine ever really believed the First Army would turn against him. The Imperial sector armies were commanded by Grand Moffs, all of whom were pretty close confidants of the Emperor, relatively speaking. They would have been unlikely to betray him, and their subordinate officers were generally either truly loyal to the Empire or scared of defecting. In addition, it was a huge fleet; there’s no way the entire force would defect together, and a few ships wouldn’t be able to do much of anything. 

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Do you have an example for a very very unpopular job onboard a Star Destroyer, ideally something that is also dangerous (as in life threatening) but it would also do if it’s just a ‘lowly’ task. TIA so much

I’m sorry, nothing like that is coming to mind. The issue would be that most of the dangerous jobs and some of the menial ones were done by droids rather than crew members. The closest thing I can think of would be sanitation duty, which probably isn’t all that dangerous but would likely be considered lowly and unpopular. 

If anyone else can think of an example, please add on!

~ Jacen

Do you have any insight in what happened to defectors from the imperial armed forces? Or what the outcome of insubordination would be? (Thx, you rock!)

It depends a lot on the circumstances. Sometimes, the punishment for insubordination could be as light as an official reprimand or a strike on the person’s record. Others, they could be court-martialled or, if working with Darth Vader in particular, killed on the spot. 

The consequences of insubordination or defection will change with the time period, the officer’s service record, and who their superiors are. After the destruction of Alderaan, for example, some people who deserted were actually allowed back into the armed forces with relatively minor punishments. This is due mostly to the fact that the Empire was low on personnel after the first Death Star was destroyed, and they couldn’t afford to turn away skilled pilots and commanders. Likewise, around this time, small offences were forgiven with as little as a reprimand, especially for officers with otherwise perfect service records and/or connections higher up in the military. 

However, when the Empire had an abundance of troops and officers, insubordination tended to be much more harshly punished. The Imperial Security Bureau (Internal Affairs division) would investigate the incident, and it was not common for ISB to take the side of the accused person if there was any evidence at all that pointed to them being guilty. Sometimes, in the case of deserters, officers would be sent to actively track them down; otherwise, a warrant would be put out and if they were found and arrested they would be court-martialled or executed without trial. 

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Do you have information about what the empire did with kids whose parents died in war? Are there special military orphanages for orphans?

I can’t recall any information on what the Empire did with its orphaned children, but I do know that the Alliance ran foster homes for orphans who were victims of the Empire. Other military/police organizations like the Corellian Security Force set up funds for the families of officers killed in the line of duty, so perhaps there was something like that in the Empire. Judging by the Empire’s other public services, any initiative put in place for orphans of the war would probably be more PR than actual help, and I suspect there would not be one unified system in place on all Imperial worlds.

I hope that helps at least a bit!

~ Jacen

What is the difference of missions between Naval TIE pilots and Military TIE pilots? And also, if you can, is there a certain branch that ISB Agents control or does it differ on the mission assigned to them? [Bless you if you can answer these and have a great week!]

I believe you mean navy pilots and army pilots? All starfighters in the Empire were considered part of the Starfighter Corps, which operated under the Imperial Navy, and so every TIE fighter is a Navy vessel. However, some TIEs were assigned to ground operations; these pilots reported to an Imperial Army garrison commander, and were technically a division of the Army. Their job was to fly support during battles on the ground. For example, during the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One you can see several different kinds of Imperial starfighters engaged in dogfights near the surface of Scarif. They were stationed on the planet, and served to aid the soldiers and AT-ACTs on the ground. Regular Navy pilots operated in space and did all the things we see in the films, basically. 

ISB did not control any particular branch of the military, but they appeared to have a lot of power within it. High-ranking agents seemed to be able to commandeer pretty much anything, from stormtrooper squads to Star Destroyers. Agents were sometimes attached to a fleet, and sometimes they worked alongside Naval intelligence and operated under the command of the Navy. How ISB fit into the military hierarchy is pretty ambiguous, but it’s clear they essentially had authority wherever they went, in both the Army and Navy. 

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Thanks for the quick answer about the high-powered blaster. <3 For clarification, though: I meant AT-AT commander armor as in the armor worn by General Veers, not that of AT-AT pilots. It certainly looks much less flimsy than the latter and should be able to withstand a few hits.

Yup, Imperial officer battle armour around that time period should have been identical or very similar to either that of an Imperial combat driver (including AT-AT pilots) or snowtrooper armour, depending on the variant. It likely looks sturdier because some of those chest plates included heating/life support systems, which added to the bulk but didn’t provide much extra shielding. Either would be vulnerable to a high-powered blaster rifle at close range.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Would a hit from a high-powered modified blaster rifle (something a bounty hunter would use) possible have enough punch to knock an armored target (in AT-AT commander armor) who’s caught off guard off their feet and burn through their chestplate? If so, can the wound be life-threatening, or is there no such thing as a blaster rifle that can smash through AT-AT commander armor?

I am not aware of any source that says an AT-AT pilot’s armour is significantly sturdier than a stormtrooper’s, so yes, a direct hit from a high-powered blaster rifle could easily burn through a chestplate. That wound could certainly be life-threatening, but it’s just as likely that the pilot would be killed, especially from a close distance. We’ve seen such blaster rifles kill clone troopers from hundreds of feet away, and AT-AT pilot armour is said to resemble Phase II clone pilot armour. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen 

How come the empire and resistance never developed better armor for the stormtroopers ? It seems like they get knocked out with a single blast a lot!

The answer is, quite simply, they didn’t want to. The Empire and First Order both operated under the philosophy that stormtroopers were completely expendable and not worth providing with better armour. They were perfectly capable of developing it, hence why some classes of stormtrooper did have much sturdier armour, but they had such a large number of recruits that it just wasn’t necessary. Now, there is a bit of a disconnect here between what we see in the movies and how the armour is described in supplemental material. Safe to say, it appears a bit flimsier in the films than it’s described in the books because it’s convenient to have the stormtroopers die in one shot onscreen. The armour was often sufficient to deflect a glancing hit, and there are instances where we see the trooper get hit directly and get knocked out but still survive. Standard stormtrooper armour wasn’t completely useless, but it definitely wasn’t intended to ensure the safety of the troops.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen