StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I was wondering what your thoughts were on Imperial garrisons in the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin. Number of troops, technicians, support personnel, customs officials, and Stormtroopers on worlds loyal to the Emperor, with questionable loyalty, and worlds in open revolt.

How many permanent bases would the Imperials have on the surface? Would they use an orbital base? Would the base just be located at the local spaceport? How many starfighters would be required to control local space?

I am familiar with the 3000 man deployable garrison bases carried on ISD's. I am more concerned with permanent bases.

I would assume they would vary based on the need i.e., size of the population, level of insurgency/questionable loyalty.

Loyal worlds probably have small bases that channel intel and supplies as they won't be threatened and recruitment offices and recruit depots and training installations. I doubt they would have anything like a proper garrison, or the smallest of them.

The other two, I'm not sure of, but I would hazard they would be placed on the outskirts of large population centers in the questionable worlds and probably in orbit on worlds with open revolt.

But would it not also be common practice that any of the Governor worlds would have a fairly sizable garrison. You know to protect the ruling body of that system or sector?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sector_Army

Under the New Order, the number of Sector Armies rose dramatically; each of the Moffs, the Governors who Palpatine dispatched to oversee the thousand Sectors which the Empire had inherited from the Old Republic, bore the title of Surface Marshal of a Sector Army. And each of these Sector Armies could serve in turn as the high command for an Assault Fleet capable of deploying four full surface Armies against any resistance or hostility in the sector - 774,576 combat troops in a total muster of 1,180,379 personnel - to say nothing of a number of autonomous Corps HQs for garrison duty.

It would make sense. Although even in the Empire there must be worlds that are completely loyal.

Also, population should be taken into account. In the SW Galaxy civilized planets have populations in the high billions if not trillions. Even a few garrisons of a million is relatively small.

Also with the speed of hyperspace travel, most worlds can be reached in days if not less. The need for heavily manned garrisons seems like a luxury more than a necessity.

Even the completely loyal worlds would maintain a small garrison if not just a single platoon to support the ISB in any "investigations".

Anyone here has the Imperial Army Sourcebook?

In terms of garrison, it can be quite miminalist isn't it, what with the an Stormtrooper legion is sufficient to bring a planet under control.

PainRack wrote:Anyone here has the Imperial Army Sourcebook?

In terms of garrison, it can be quite miminalist isn't it, what with the an Stormtrooper legion is sufficient to bring a planet under control.

It was never meant to be taken as an absolute indicator of size, more an approximation. the ISB (in universe) represents a presentation of alliance intel on Imperial capabilities circa the post Yavin era and to the best of their knowledge (EG they don't know all the things the Imperials do.) It's unlikely that they have absolute intel on the Empire's military strength, esp given the Black Fleet Crisis and that Order of Battle they recoverd a decade after Endor was so damn important (despite being out of date.) there is plenty of wiggle room.

That 'wiggle room' is a double edgd sword though: with the level of greed and corruption inherent in the Empire, that means that sizes could be over or under-represented depending on the case (EG a Moff or General or Admiral reporting their 'paper' strength as being larger than it actually is, to siphon off funds and resources for personal or other purposes.)

There is also the simple fact that given the speed and presence of communications (even with a restricted holonet) and the speed (and reliability) of hyperdrives (and how common they are) - as well as the fact that the Empire, despite being so militaristic, has no real external threats to fight or to compel it to fight and is in control of a relatively peaceful and stable galaxy (on the galactic scale at least. More localized conditions may differ.) means that there also isn't a need for a hugetastic military. Indeed, proliferation of military power may be counter-productive since it can disrupt the very balance of power that keeps the Empire in a dominant position (what happens if everyone can build planet-killing/destroying starships and trillions/quadrillions strong droid armies via automated manufacturing and such?) When you couple the political situation with the economic one (wars are expensive and bad for general business outside of a military context) it probably makes sense not to build a hugetastic military even if you COULD do so.

Havok wrote:The need for heavily manned garrisons seems like a luxury more than a necessity.

To put down open rebellion, maybe. But without a garrison or sizable intelligence agency, the Alliance could transform such a planet into a massive spy network, hack into critical systems, bribe officials, etc.

That can be handled by, as you say, an intelligence presence rather than a bunch of soldiers and stormtroopers. As well as whatever the local Imperial police happen to be. It's not stormies are the only form of enforcement, after all.

Luke Skywalker wrote:

Havok wrote:The need for heavily manned garrisons seems like a luxury more than a necessity.

To put down open rebellion, maybe. But without a garrison or sizable intelligence agency, the Alliance could transform such a planet into a massive spy network, hack into critical systems, bribe officials, etc.

I'm pretty certain that I already differentiated between a giant Stormtrooper garrison and a local established base for channeling Intel or whatever. The idea that "no garrison" means no military presence is pretty fucking stupid.

It would seem from the evidence given in "Choices of One" by Timothy Zahn, that every sector governor had about a battalion worth of stormtroopers at their personal command. They seem to have been predominantly used for personal protection and possibly for carrying out missions in the sector where regular Imperial Army troops or the local security forces weren't capable of doing or simply to back up those Imperial authorities when needed. The Hand of Judgement books seem to give a good idea of how life on individual planets in the age of the Empire at its height look.

As John Whitman said it through Thrawn:

"I encounter civilians like you all the time. You believe the Empire is continually plotting to do harm. Let me tell you, your view of the Empire is far too dramatic. The Empire is a government. It keeps billions of beings fed and clothed. Day after day, year after year, on thousands of worlds, people live their lives under Imperial rule without seeing a stormtrooper or hearing a TIE fighter scream overhead."