Author Topic: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
LtNOWIS  2473 posts
Registered: May '05
16494_Clone Assault
Date Posted: 4/8/06 7:22pm Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
Master_of_Ossus posted:
To all of the people who support the 3 million number (and especially those using the Battle of Thermopylae as an example):


Well, I never learned ancient history I certainly wouldn't use a historical example.

4. On Jabiim the Republic was hampered by bad weather and poor leadership. They should've listened to Alpha.
Master_of_Ossus posted:

5. At Merson, a mere 5:1 numerical inferiority caused the Republic (clone-led) forces to be TPKed. At Parcellus Minor, a mere 10:1 numerical inferiority caused 90% casualties among the clone forces, and required the naval commander on-hand to basically wipe out the surface of the planet to salvage even that force (ie. they would've lost completely without orbital dominance) (DHC Clone Wars Book 5). How do you reconcile the simultaneous importance of even slight numerical superiority in these battles with the spectacular numerical superiority enjoyed by CIS forces, according to your numbers?


Merson was not clone-led. It was Jedi-led. Furthermore, nowhere is it stated they were outnumbered five to one. Rather, there were 5 times as many droids as the intel had indicated.

That's not what happened on Parcellus Minor. The droids and clones were fighting, and the CIS didn't care about their droids, so they bombarded the planet, killing droids and clones alike. The Seppies did the bombarding, not the Republic. 10% of the clones survived, despite being inside a flammable swamp that got bombarded. There isn't any mention of the clones losing before the bombardment began, despite their lack of heavy equipment. It's also unlikely that the CIS would wipe out the droids if they weren't losing.

Master_of_Ossus posted:

6. How do you explain the following quote from Insider 65: Shadowfeed:

Shadowfeed posted:
"The forces on our borders and outlying colonial assets are admittedly facing greater numbers, but with our inexhaustible supply of troops and materiel from the Neimoidian coffer-worlds, Techno Union home foundaries and mighty guild-worlds, its only a matter of time before the republic is overwhelmed."

The quote indicates that the droid army was outnumbered by the clones...

No it doesn't. I don't see the word clone anywhere in that quote. Like I said, militia.

Master_of_Ossus posted:

8. During the Battle of Utapau, Obi-Wan's entire clone force was required to defeat a mere "thousands" of battle droids, along with indigenous forces. Once again, how can this be explained if the clones were so much more powerful than the droids?

It was Grievous. He was the key to destroying the CIS, ending the war, and thus being able to curb Palpatine. You simply do not skimp on troops for a mission like that.

 

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razzy1319  1862 posts
Registered: Jun '04
24104_Clone Trooper
Date Posted: 4/8/06 7:45pm Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
Lord_Hydronium posted:

"We outnumber them 300 billion to one" vs. "They outnumber us". That's not called "playing with people's sympathies", it's called "being really stupid". Propaganda is supposed to raise morale.



No caliing propaganda stupid is stupid. grin Most organics dont want to hear how they are the accomplises of the great war machine that tramples the the homes and rights of other people. They want drama and conflict with a hint hope, They are more likely join if they are the ones being "outnumbered", in "minority" and the ones whose rights are being stepped on by the "Republic that outnumbers them".

Lord_Hydronium posted:

And never take a single casualty. Except when they get slaughtered on Jabiim. Or Parcellus Minor. Or Merson. Or Muunilist. But maybe they're just so awesome that they can fight after they're dead! Oh, and they don't ever get exhausted or have supply problems. And the CIS has never heard the word "siege".



They do take casualties but by the time they need to replinish it has been a year past and more than 3 million clones are created, something I have to reiterate time and time again.

Lord_Hydronium posted:

Yeah, I think you've just summed up the pro three million argument.



Never heard of illogical tactics? AH'thrawn'em. Ever heard of divine intervention? AH'jedi'Em.

As the others stated the battle of thermopylae illustrates the point that something as illogical as suicide would somehow benefit the war, hundreds of years before the Japanese Kamikaze Attacks.

Lord_Hydronium posted:

Not if the Republic targeted those factories at the start of the battle, thus limiting CIS forces to the droids they had on-planet at the time. It's why I've said (though apparently it must appear on other people's computers in a foreign language or something) that yes, tactics can make a difference.

Ah, and I love how those who "deem the movies as pure fact" are portrayed as somehow in the wrong; apparently the canon policy changed while I wasn't looking. T-canon, the works of Traviss, now overrides everything else, including those pesky movies.



They did in fact target the factories first. Now my beef with that is why cant you accept that they did that on a galactic scale, when the CIS was apparently disarrayed by the clone army?

Never said the purist were wrong, I said it was illogical... What makes it logical? C-canon.

 

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Havac  14246 posts
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered: Sep '05
23735_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 4/8/06 9:38pm Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
Lord_Hydronium posted:
OK, so let's say only a thousand droids can fight at any one time. So those thousand droids go up against the clones and get whooped. Then a thousand more are sent in, and they lose too. Then a thousand more. And so on. But each new detachment sent into the breach is fresh into combat, while the defenders are still the same people, each successive engagement wearing them down bit by bit. And this happens about a million times. So do the defenders not get worn down, then? Are they just that super-awesome that they can fight as many battles as they want in succession and it will never affect them? Does attrition never come into the picture?

As for Traviss' retcon, figures. The alternative is admitting she was wrong, so instead she ignores other people's work.


Are there really, realistically, going to be 20,000 battle droids sitting at each engagement? The droids are spread across the galaxy. Most of the people defending the number aren't sitting here going "ZOMG TRAVISS!!11!!1" Most would prefer a larger number. We are, however, working with what we've been given and trying to show it could work. We're being constructive. I really don't see what whining about official numbers going "ZOMG ITS SO STOOPID!111!!!!! TRAVISS SUX!!!111!111" contributes to the discussion.

 

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Pershing  454 posts
Registered: Sep '05
6489_High Inquisitor Tremayne
Date Posted: 4/9/06 12:38am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
Havac posted:
Lord_Hydronium posted:
OK, so let's say only a thousand droids can fight at any one time. So those thousand droids go up against the clones and get whooped. Then a thousand more are sent in, and they lose too. Then a thousand more. And so on. But each new detachment sent into the breach is fresh into combat, while the defenders are still the same people, each successive engagement wearing them down bit by bit. And this happens about a million times. So do the defenders not get worn down, then? Are they just that super-awesome that they can fight as many battles as they want in succession and it will never affect them? Does attrition never come into the picture?

As for Traviss' retcon, figures. The alternative is admitting she was wrong, so instead she ignores other people's work.


Are there really, realistically, going to be 20,000 battle droids sitting at each engagement? The droids are spread across the galaxy.


This discussion makes me wonder, if huge numbers of droids are committed to a battle and the initial waves are destroyed, wouldn't they eventually start having to cross entire ramparts of destroyed droids? B1s don't seem like the agile sort so I imagine it'd be difficult for them to manuver what amounts to be an obstacle course of fallen droids.

 

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Excellence  24488 posts
Registered: Jul '02
6338_New Republic Seal
Date Posted: 4/9/06 1:06am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound) - Date Edited: 4/9/06 1:08am (1 edits total) Edited By: Excellence

A million Persians? I read it was half a million, the vast majority untrained civilians given weapons and armour. Many ships were lost en route too.

But yeah, this is pretty irrelevant. Lets make it more so!

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MercenaryAce  2758 posts
Registered: Aug '05
8117_Y-Wing Pilot
Date Posted: 4/9/06 7:46am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
"razzy1319 posted:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It isnt wholly about logic.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yeah, I think you've just summed up the pro three million argument"

Funney that should say that after responding to only one out of my many explanations (admitatly the weakest one) and then act like that's proof of your argument. And continue to ignore the fact that militias even exsit, much less that they did most of the fighting.

"T-canon, the works of Traviss, now overrides everything else, including those pesky movies. "

Thank god it did in this case. Three million is low, but the movies sugested that the clone army consited of 1,200,000 clones. I was so worried, I was releaved by the three million (still irked until I realized the Clones weren't every-where).

"And never take a single casualty. Except when they get slaughtered on Jabiim. Or Parcellus Minor. Or Merson. Or Muunilist. But maybe they're just so awesome that they can fight after they're dead! "

Notice how every time only a few thousand troops are lost, and yet each one of those was considered a great defeat, and a almost crippiling blow to the Republic. If there were billions of Clones, those battles would be drops in the bucket. They could only be major defeats to a much smaller Clone army.

 

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sidious618  11601 posts
Registered: Apr '03
8059_Qui-Gon Jinn
Date Posted: 4/9/06 9:29am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
Hey, Karen's retcon is pretty good. Let's hope the story is up to par with HC and not bad like TZ. Anyone have thoughts on the story itself?

 

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FTeik  4040 posts
Registered: Nov '00
39843_Palpatine
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:14am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound) - Date Edited: 4/24/06 11:53am (1 edits total) Edited By: DarthSapient
sidious618 posted:
Hey, Karen's retcon is pretty good. Let's hope the story is up to par with HC and not bad like TZ. Anyone have thoughts on the story itself?




 

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Master_of_Ossus  457 posts
Registered: Mar '03
17651_ARC Commander
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:21am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
MercenaryAce posted:
Simply Really

1) Prue plain propanganda. Look at the source man, CIS shadow feed.


Let me get this straight, when someone says, "Okay, I admit that we face this disadvantage, but we have X and Y on our side" you consider the admitted disadvantage a piece of propoganda?

MercenaryAce posted:
2)The CIS is more spread out. THe droids are out stomping militias, so generaly when CLones and Droids meet its in around equal numbers.


Except that the CIS has militias, also, and in battles like Jabiim the droids were outnumbered by the clones.

MercenaryAce posted:
3) Have you read the post you just posted? Serisously dude-limitless numbers of troops. The article suggests many border CIS worlds were unprotected, which makes sense in the begaining-just because the droids are built doens't mean they are where they need to be.


I love the way you decry Dooku's admission of inferiority as being propoganda and then accept his claims of "limitless troops" at face value.

[quote]Nesides, CLones are mentioned no where in that atricle, so it does not suggest the Droids were outnumbered. Which would a be stupid thing to sugest considering how much longer it takes to make a clone than to make a droid, and if the droids were out numbered, then the war would have ended quickly, because most battles feature rediculus kill-lose ratios in favor of the clones and jedi. [/quote]

Let me ask you all this: what is the smallest possible percentage of total Republic forces that you believe could be made up of clones for the entire thing to make any sense.

 

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Master_of_Ossus  457 posts
Registered: Mar '03
17651_ARC Commander
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:29am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
razzy1319 posted:
Master Ossus: a failure to read the earlier post is one of the key aspects of misunderstanding in this discussions
It isnt wholly about logic.


Clearly not, if people actually buy into the tripe that 3 million clones would've been sufficient (even though more than 3,000,000 clones participated in the Battle of Muunilist alone).


Me posted:
The whole point of bringing up Thermopylae isnt about 4000 greeks vs 250000 persians, it was about the fact that it was thought to be impossible that such a stand would somehow end up to be a victory whether or not the warriors who sacrifice their lives would be lost and that the persians would come as fast and hard as their futuristic counterparts.


But that's not a valid comparison because of Lanchester's Laws.

Razzy posted:
Just a nice little fact, the King's personal choice of troops, The Immortals, had a number of 10000 and if some died would be replaced immediately to give the sense of their "immortality" but to spartans who arent that gullible the immortals represented the fact that they were fighting an force that was as infinite as the droid army.


That's just a myth that was perpetuated long after the War. The Immortals didn't actually work that way (which would really be a pretty stupid way to operate an elite infantry unit).

Razzy posted:
Was just reading the the clone wars article over at Wookiee and noticed that there were probably just 3-4 major battles during the first year and most of the action during that time was:
1. CIS looking for superweapons
2. Jedi and Special Forces destroying Superweapons
3. A strategic shot at the major Sep Financier
4. If Hypori is indeed the last battle of the first year, then its apt that it might be the biggest of the major battles since Greevy finally shows his gameface.


Except that the "strategic shot at the major Sep Financier" also required MORE THAN THREE MILLION CLONES, as demonstrated by the NEGC quote which I posted, earlier. What's more, that battle happened more-or-less simultaneously with the Battles of Mon Calamari, Dantooine, and Hypori--and those are just the ones that we know about. In all of those engagements, Republic forces sustained significant casualties.

Razzy posted:
EDIT: Said it before and will say until everybody knows, By calculations done by those who deem the movies as pure fact, the Droid Foundries of Geonosis should have pumped droids fast enough to geometrically outnumber the 120,000 clones in a matter of hours. Which based on the logic of those against the 3M clones, Geonosis should have been a Rep Loss.


Nonsense. The clones enjoyed numerous advantages over the droids that allowed them to quickly overwhelm the droid foundries, not the least of which was their superiority in the early stages of the Battle and the CIS forces' attempts to retreat immediately.
[/quote]

 

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The2ndQuest  40065 posts
Title: Manager:
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Registered: Jan '00
49624_H234: Samus
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:32am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound) - Date Edited: 4/9/06 11:33am (1 edits total) Edited By: The2ndQuest
You know, for some reason these past few days I've been reading the story title in this thread's title as being some weird military abbreviation I assumed I simply wasn't aware of- ODDS.

All this time I was wondering "what happened to the story title of "Odds"?".

hypnotized doh! silly

 

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Master_of_Ossus  457 posts
Registered: Mar '03
17651_ARC Commander
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:38am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
LtNOWIS posted:
4. On Jabiim the Republic was hampered by bad weather and poor leadership. They should've listened to Alpha.


Everyone knows that clones are much better military leaders than Jedi. That's why the Republic uses Jedi as generals. Oh, wait....

LtNOWIS
Merson was not clone-led. It was Jedi-led. Furthermore, nowhere is it stated they were outnumbered five to one. Rather, there were 5 times as many droids as the intel had indicated.[/quote
posted:


Conceded, although being Jedi-led must logically be better than being led by clones or else the Republic would not consistently use that strategy. This does, though, demonstrate that the clones cannot, in fact, overcome the sort of numerical inferiority claimed by proponents of the 3,000,000 number.

[quote=LtNOWIS]No it doesn't. I don't see the word clone anywhere in that quote. Like I said, militia.


How quickly, exactly, were the militia for the Republic mobilized for offensive operations against the Confederacy? Training people takes time.

LtNOWIS posted:
It was Grievous. He was the key to destroying the CIS, ending the war, and thus being able to curb Palpatine. You simply do not skimp on troops for a mission like that.


You wouldn't be skimping on troops, though, to deploy a force only a fraction of the size of the droid army, though, if the 3,000,000 clone adherents are to be believed.

 

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Master_of_Ossus  457 posts
Registered: Mar '03
17651_ARC Commander
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:43am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound)
Havac posted:
Are there really, realistically, going to be 20,000 battle droids sitting at each engagement?


There have been hundreds of battles on Earth in which both sides have brough well over 20,000 troops to the Battle itself. 20,000 is a large division--hardly sufficient for occupying a single country, much less a planet. Put it another way, it's twice the droid numbers at Jabiim (which was, more or less, an unimportant planet) and that doesn't even count the large number of CIS militia.

Havac posted:
The droids are spread across the galaxy. Most of the people defending the number aren't sitting here going "ZOMG TRAVISS!!11!!1" Most would prefer a larger number. We are, however, working with what we've been given and trying to show it could work. We're being constructive.


Showing how something "could work" by using false analogies and specious logic is not constructive.

Havac posted:
I really don't see what whining about official numbers going "ZOMG ITS SO STOOPID!111!!!!! TRAVISS SUX!!!111!111" contributes to the discussion.


The last time we had this discussion, virtually everyone concluded that I was correct about the number of clones required to fight the War. I don't see that anything has changed, since then.

 

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Master_of_Ossus  457 posts
Registered: Mar '03
17651_ARC Commander
Date Posted: 4/9/06 11:48am Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound) - Date Edited: 4/9/06 11:51am (1 edits total) Edited By: Master_of_Ossus
MercenaryAce posted:
Notice how every time only a few thousand troops are lost, and yet each one of those was considered a great defeat, and a almost crippiling blow to the Republic. If there were billions of Clones, those battles would be drops in the bucket. They could only be major defeats to a much smaller Clone army.


What are you talking about? Muunilist, Dantooine, and Mon Calamari were considered tremendous victories for the Republic. Hypori was a defeat, but was mitigated by the fact that the action it supported (the one on Muunilist) was an unqualified success. Even Dantooine seems to have been a victory, even though Mace Windu's clone forces were utterly destroyed. I would also remind you that most people consider the actions in Mogadishu taken by the US to have been a spectacular defeat, in spite of the fact that the casualties sustained by American forces made up an almost infinitesimal fraction of total US fighting strength.

Pershing posted:
This discussion makes me wonder, if huge numbers of droids are committed to a battle and the initial waves are destroyed, wouldn't they eventually start having to cross entire ramparts of destroyed droids? B1s don't seem like the agile sort so I imagine it'd be difficult for them to manuver what amounts to be an obstacle course of fallen droids.


The "choke their rivers with our dead" strategy?

In real life battles, this has not been a significant issue even after heavy fighting. It seems dubious that a clone wars battle would be any different, particularly since each soldier carries enough firepower to punch through walls and other obstacles given even a few seconds of concerted effort. Using reality as a guide, the use of droids actually reduces the difficulties associated with protracted warfare because they don't have to be buried and do not spread disease.

 

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Fist_of_Mandalore  2926 posts
Registered: Mar '05
43216_Mandalorian
Date Posted: 4/9/06 12:21pm Subject: RE: ODDS in Insider 87 (Controversial Issues Abound) - Date Edited: 4/9/06 12:33pm (2 edits total) Edited By: Fist_of_Mandalore
The last time we had this discussion, virtually everyone concluded that I was correct about the number of clones required to fight the War. I don't see that anything has changed, since then
Bah, since when are you and Hydro "virtually everyone?"

EDIT: I dont get what the arguement is bout. The most recent canon (dont give me this ITW quote being higher canon any Saxtonites out there) states that the clones are 3,000,000+ strong from Kamino. Thats what the canon says and no amount of screaming at each other, at Karen Traviss and some mroe at each other is going to change it.

Double EDIT: Everyone knows that clones are much better military leaders than Jedi. That's why the Republic uses Jedi as generals. Oh, wait....
Hmm, clone of one of the greatest soldiers the galaxy ever saw during this time period (non-force augmented of course) who has spent all of his life (10 years is admittedly not a long life but considering their training regimn) training to be a soldier and a commnader of soldiers. Or, a glorified spoon-bender who has never commanded, or been expected to command, any number of soldiers in combat. I'd go with the trained soldier, not the monk with a hurty flashlight. Some Jedi obviously were good commanders, but most others, with the whole "Hey, we can imitate Napoleonic warfare! Wheeee-splat" sucked.

 

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