Thanks! I’m trying to familiarize myself with the kind of consoles used in the Resistance. I know there’s a controller console, but the others seem vague, at least in TFA novelization. They also tend to generalize “at his touch the message was sent to every squadron member” kind of thing instead of the communication devices in ships. Do you have any advice for writing about these things?

Unfortunately, a lot of official writing tends to describe these things very generally. Not to mention, the descriptions of the use and functions of specific technologies are very inconsistent throughout the Star Wars universe. The first thing I would do is get really familiar with some terminology to describe the systems of a starfighter. Once you understand what each part does, it’s much easier to describe what a pilot is doing accurately (and a lot of this stuff is not specific to any one starfighter, and will work with the Resistance T-70 X-wings even though they don’t have a lot of known specifications). The best way to get a feel for it is to just read some of the books (the X-Wing series is particularly good for this), but obviously no one wants to read a dozen books to write a scene or two, so I would recommend taking a look at the “starships” section of the Vocab List (which I’ve just updated) for some of the terminology. It is by no means a complete list, so if you have the time you could also look through the Wookieepedia categories for starship components (which includes stuff like engines and weapons, which is still a useful thing to know how to describe) and starship computer systems.

More practically, this is a photo of a T-70 X-wing’s cockpit. I find it nice to have an idea of where things are located, even if you can only pick out a couple components. I have not been able to find a labelled diagram of a cockpit, but I will post if I find one.

At the end of the day, I’m a strong advocate for picking out whatever canon you want and tossing what you don’t, so I wouldn’t worry too much about whether you can describe the exact mechanisms of using a starfighter’s console. It can be nice to have a very general explanation of what’s going on, because too many technical terms that the reader may or may not know can really mess with the flow of a story.

Hope that helps a bit!

~ Jacen

How does the Resistance get money? Are there wealthy donors? Does donating to them put the donors at risk if there’s a “money trail?”

Because the Resistance is a splinter group of the New Republic military, its main sponsor is the New Republic itself. But since they are so low on supplies and equipment, and since they do not see eye-to-eye with the New Republic on the issue of whether to take the First Order threat seriously, I think it’s reasonable to assume that they also need some sort of alternative income. For example, a high priority for the Resistance is getting medical supplies. This would be relatively easy to get using a donor’s money, compared to a capital ship or a squadron of fighters, which would be provided by the New Republic. Not a whole lot is known about how the Resistance operates at the moment, at least not compared to the Rebellion, for instance, so I would say that all that stuff is open to interpretation for now.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Clone Troopers

likealeafonthewind:

A summary from my latest venture onto Wookieepedia, because I’ve been watching some of the clone-centric CW episodes with @themikeymonster and had Questions about the clones.

Italicized information is from Legends, regular font is from canon.

More musing and headcanons under the cut. Please feel free to chime in. This is making my head hurt.

Null-class Advanced Recon Commandos

Prototypes

Designation: N- or Null-

Total produced: 12 (but 6 died early on)

Deemed a failure by Kaminoans; adopted by Mandalorian mercenary Kal Skirata

Named after Mandalorian warriors

Alpha-class Advanced Recon Commando (ARC) troopers

Designation: A- or Alpha-

Unaltered independent minds – only some of them decided to obey Order 66, the rest sided with the Jedi

Total number produced: 100

Personally trained by Jango Fett, who ordered them to kill all the younger clones if Kamino ever fell to the Separatists

Known trooper:

Alpha-17

Clone trooper commanders

Designation: CC-

Bred for leadership roles, with extra capacity for autonomy, tactical thinking, and coordination

Trained with ARC skills

Led regiments of 2,304 troopers

Some known troopers:

CC-2224 – Cody

CC-3636 – Wolffe

CC-5052 – Bly

Clone Commandos or Republic Commandos

Designation: RC-

Bred with more independence than standard clone troopers

Trained to be more lethal and efficient than average clone soldier by Mandalorian drill sergeants

Worked in squads of 4, carried out covert infiltration, sabotage, demolition, and assassination

A few refused to comply with Order 66

Known troopers:

CC-5576-39 – Gregor

Foxtrot Group – attached to the 212th; led by Gregor

Clone Force 99 – genetically altered to be super soldiers; worked with Cody; named in honor of 99

RC-1138 – Boss; leader of Delta Squad

Clone trooper captain

Commanded companies of 144 troopers

Bred as battlefield officers and special mission operatives

Known troopers:

CT-7567 – Rex

Clone Lieutenant

Designation: CL-

Commanded platoons of 36 troopers

Known troopers:

CL-9632 – Trap

Clone Sergeant

Designation: CT-

Commanded squads of 9 troopers

Known troopers:

Appo – later promoted to clone commander

Rank-and-file clone troopers

Designation: CT-

Keep reading

Where do the officers/stormtroopers eat at SSD/ISDs? are there giant cafeterias for both? Do officers/technicians/stormtroopers/pilots eat at the same room or at separate ones? Do admirals have their own private areas? Sorry if this is too much lol I’d like to know about the Empire’s everyday.

It’s not too much! Sorry for taking a while to answer, though. School got in the way.

Officers and troops eat in large mess halls while onboard ships (and while on land). We know that the Executor-class Star Dreadnought’s mess halls were located in the bridge tower, and most SSDs follow the same basic layout. ISDs are often significantly smaller, but still share a bridge design with the Executors, so they probably also had multiple halls near the bridge. All enlisted men (stormtroopers, pilots, etc.) eat in the mess halls, although there’s almost always more than one mess hall in any ship or building, so they probably span several levels. Lower-ranked officers also don’t have their own areas, but, knowing Imperials, they probably congregated in one specific hall.

High-ranking officers like admirals have their own quarters, also found in the bridge tower, and could presumably eat there if they wanted, although I couldn’t confirm it. Admirals also have their own private escape pod near their quarters.

I hope that’s helpful!

~ Jacen