CT Why Not Make New Clones?

Alright, we all know that the Republic's Clones was what used to make up the Imperial Army, the Clones aged quicker so they needed replacements, so why did they use Humans who obviously suck at fighting Rebels instead of creating new clones? Boba Fett was a unaltered clone of Jango, and his DNA is in Kamino, why not use that?

 

I don't think the result would differ even if they did.

 

What do you mean?

 

The clones ultimately proved a failure. Doing it again I believe would simply lead to another colossal failure. I don't like clones to begin with but it's due to moral qualms not personal disdain, I think Clones show that both 'sides' compromised their integrity.

 

How did the Clones prove to be a failure? The Clones of the Clone Wars were much better fighters, that is what they're for. Even if breeding Millions of Clones just to fight and die is wrong and maybe a little creepy, they prove to be better fighters than the new Human Soldiers. The Empire lost by the Imperial Army combat effectiveness, it was drastically decreased because of the recruitment of Humans and that mixed with the help of Luke n' Friends led to the downfall of the Empire

 

Because it was a crap idea in the first place and clones aren't very interesting?

 

Maybe making Millions of the same person isn't the best idea, but at least they're more interesting than the dead souls in those StormTrooper helmets

 

The only reason stormtroopers seem to suck so much is because they're always fighting against the main characters who are equipped with the latest models of plot armor. Notice how the clones in Revenge of the Sith, who are so effective against battle droids, suddenly start dying in droves (just like stormtroopers!) once Order 66 happens and they're suddenly the bad guys and find themselves facing Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

 

First, 10/10 for that comment.

Secondly, Fair enough, but not many Rebels seem to die when fighting them (excluding Leia ship scene and the AT AT Walkers rolling over them)
I mean, they're beaten by a bunch of rebels and ewoks on the battle of Endor, I guess they were sort of outnumbered but they were pwned.

 

Jedis are very overpowered, but I'm talking about their general combat effectiveness when fighting Rebels. The Clones were much better at fighting Droids than Stormtroopers fighting Rebels. Though I guess droids are easier to fight the Clones actually hit things.

 

Mmm well, I guess that's still two for three. ROTJ in general seems to just suffer from sudden villain incompetence, as not only do the stormtoopers lose to the Ewoks and rebel commando team, but the badass and intimidating Star Destroyers we saw from the previous films also lose to what looks like a much weaker Rebel fleet.

 

Yeah, it's because they're movies and the good guys win in the OT. Plain and simple.

I genuinely like the clones from the movies, but they do seem rather expensive and ill-suited for true galactic scale mass production. Ten years is just too long. So there's that, I guess.

But I don't mind the idea of all the OT stormtroopers being clones, maybe even Jango clones.

 

I believe I read somewhere the Emperor wanted to instill patriotism into the heart of Galactic citizens so he opened up the Imperial Academy/human recruits.

 

The Empire (and Republic before that) should've just used battle droids. I know, droids are supposedly inferior to sentient soldiers, but they're not so inferior that they can't make up for it with sheer numbers and expendability. Let's say you can have 100 battle droids for the cost of a clonetrooper. Can one clonetrooper kill a hundred battle droids? I doubt it. Not to mention there's little to no ethical questions with creating millions of disposable droids and sending them into battle*, while there certainly is in mass-producing clones for the same purpose.

This is also why I think introducing battle droids in the first place was a bad idea. It seems George Lucas only had battle droids around so that Jedi characters could mutilate them with lightsabers without sacrificing the kid-friendliness of the movies and turning the prequels into a massive gore-fest. But once you decide that your universe has viable robot soldiers in it, well there's no reason to use the old-fashioned kind anymore.

(* I think there's some people both in-universe and out-of-universe who'd argue that droids are indeed sentient, to which I'd respond that droids made for war could and probably are made to be less sentient-like. After all, there clearly are machines in the SW universe which we would not classify as sentient. Where to draw the line would be tricky and maybe impossible...battle droids would probably exist in some grey area, but ethically it's still got to be better than using clones.)

 

Would it even really matter if they made new Clones?

 

I always wondered this myself, and cannot come up with a good answer

 

Narrative recycling makes things boring.

In other words, clones are only cool the first time around.

 

It depends on how you look at it. If you think in terms of what's done is done, maybe, but perhaps not if you view every creative decision in linear fashion and on its own merits. The reason no more clones were made is because Lucas only thought of clone troopers in hindsight.

 

Fan theory: Clones are more expensive than conscripts and volunteers. The Empire is huuuuuge!!! They just can't stuff all the posts with clones. They probably set up recruitment centers on each planet they are occupying (example Lothal).

Battle droids won't work for psychological reasons. The Empire must distinguish itself from the CIS, the former enemy.

 

Psychological advantage

The Empire is going to let the Clones run their course but start recruitment. It gives the humans of the galaxy a stake in the Empire. To protect. Serve. Etc. Plus it makes a great recruitment poster.....

Art by Abbazia

 

Actually, supplementary material back in 1977 said stormtroopers were clones. So apparently stormtroopers not actually being clones was just another case of Lucas changing his mind.

 

Another reason why the prequels need to be dispelled. The reason they don't exist by the time of ANH is because they weren't conceived yet, pure and simple.

From a narrative standpoint there would be absolutely no reason for the Emperor to stop using clones. They were highly effective, highly efficient, and unconditionally loyal. That and there was an endless supply if need be. Why the Emperor wouldn't just create soldiers into the billions and billions and completely overtake the alliance by sheer force is puzzling to say the least.

 

Nothing in the OT says that there weren't clones, since their helmets never come off and no one says otherwise. But this is addressed in "Star Wars: Rebels" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". The Clonetroopers still had a level of independence that Palpatine disliked and opted to go with raw recruits, believing that he could manufacture loyalty that way. Before, Palpatine had to have a chip implanted to ensure loyalty as the Clonetroopers disobeyed orders that they felt was unnecessary and costly. The Stormtroopers would prove loyal to the point of blind loyalty.

And it takes time to create clones. It took ten years to create the first batch and five years to create the second. That's another reason why he couldn't keep producing clones, but he could recruit and shave off the growth time.

 

I refer you to the post I made right above yours.

 

None of that is evident from watching ROTS though. There is absolutely nothing in that movie that suggests the clonetroopers weren't blindly and unconditionally loyal to Palpatine. This is painfully clarified by that one soldier on Utapau who fought by Obi-Wan's side one moment but fired shots on him the next once Order 66 was given. These are the same troopers that completely wiped out the established order and opened fire on the jedi temple right in the middle of capitol city. The same troopers that murdered children. Nothing... NOTHING in this movie suggests any of them were morally conflicted. They were bred to be nothing more than disposable people for The Emperor. Loyalty was literally injected into their hearts from the moment they were born.

"We modified their genetic structure to make them less independent than the original host. As a result they are totally obedient, taking any order without question"

- Lama Su in Attack Of The Clones



There would be absolutely no reason for the Emperor to stop using clones, especially since they had proved to be highly effective in both his war against he separatists and his war against the jedi. There is absolutely no way to ensure a legion of raw recruits would be as loyal or as efficient.

You wanna know why he stopped using clones? Because it was the only way to bridge ROTS and ANH.






The_Phantom_Calamari, I refer you to my post above