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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Books The Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry and a pseudonymous Scotsman

Discussion in 'Literature' started by whateveritis12, May 17, 2010.

  1. AdmiralNick22

    AdmiralNick22 Retired Fleet Admiral star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 28, 2003
    It's worth noting that the only species that use extremely unique weapons are those that are percieved as "primitive". I don't mean this is a deraugatory manner, but rather as a reflection of how the species are portrayed. Ewoks, Gungans, Wookiees, Geonosians, and Dugs are all portrayed as being less "techy" than other species, even if this is not exactly the case.

    Hence why Mon Cals, Duros, Bothans, Sullustans, Chiss, and a host of other species are regularly shown using regular weapons, while the aforementioned species above are not.

    --Adm. Nick
     
  2. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2009
    I rewatched the Second Battle of Geonosis just now and the Geonosians are a bit of a quirky exemption to that. They build entire droid armies that use regular blasters and turbolasers, use them to augment their own troops and use a combination of sonic blasters and laser blasters in combat. The sonic weapons are only seen to have an effect in close combat, everything else thrown at the Republic troops are either lasers or shells. It's a bit hard to tell, but I think some of the AA cannons with obvious Geonosian features actually shot laser bolts, too. Pretty cool to see the diverse weaponry, almost makes the Dugs in a later episode seem hopelessly outdated, using spears and animal mounts and only having railgun launchers as higher tech in what we see of their military. The Geonosians at least piloted AATs and speeder bikes.

    Then again, there's something oddly lopsided about most of these species, they can create energy for shielding systems, but sometimes use sci-fi versions of ancient and clunky weaponry like energy-versions of handheld spears and personal shields.
     
  3. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    In the realm of old, slightly bothersome stuff that could be easily retconned, what about the frequent references to people graduating from the Imperial Academy during the prequel period? Even in sources like that NEGTC that should, by that time, have known better? Well, why not have an Imperial Academy during that period? Say, an Anaxes Imperial Academy or Imperial Anaxes Military Academy or some such, a leftover of the Azure Imperium? Food for thought . . .
     
  4. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    I suspect most or all of this has already been mentioned by other users, but I'd like to see entries on every major military operation in the galaxy from the Old Republic to the Clone Wars to Legacy, ones for every major faction, and not necessarily ones that end in victories.

    I also think this would be a prudent time to unveil some of the Confederacy's gains during the Clone Wars in all their glory, since the television series and most of the EU fail to deliver. I'd like to see the likes of General Grievous and Admiral Trench kick some Republic ass, if only for a moment. :D
     
  5. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    The EU hasn't been too bad about it. The pre-CWAS material had a number of draws and outright losses for the Republic, and the new material has some too - the 1st DH comics digest, for instance, has the Confederacy on a rampage -
    "With the loss of Nexus Ortai, that is nearly two dozen worlds we have had to pull back from in the Mid-Rim."
    The problem with the show is that we're not even really seeing the "Confederacy" - there's the droid army, a few flesh-and-blood leaders, but apart from Geonosis (which we already knew from the movies) we haven't seen actual Confederacy worlds. Their forces seem more like a marauding horde without a home. I was heartened that they came forth with the "neutral planets" in Season Two, so I hope that we'll actually see some of the actual Confederacy now.
     
  6. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    I think the overall lack of CIS victories or 'exposure' (particularly in the new series and its supplement EU) is because of George's idea to make the mainstay of their army droids. It's pretty hard to sympathize or feel for a vast army of soulless machines. Combined with the fact that most of the Separatist leadership is either Sith, dark Jedi, or genocidal monsters, they end up looking more like the Empire and less like the Rebellion.

    All of this is to say that you're more likely to get a three dimensional look at the conflict when both sides seem accessible to the audience.

    But that might just be baseless out of universe nonsense. [face_whistling]
     
  7. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    Considering the amount of times people throw the "heroes on both sides" in Lucas' face, I don't think it's baseless... ;)
    The "Hero of the Confederacy" storyline in DHC's brief Clone Wars comic explored that, even if the Valahari were only members for a very brief time.
    I think I had probably mentioned it early on in the thread, but I would like to see (even if brief) something about the early Confederacy, the pre-Geonosis one. Were they trying to create a militia of some kind? (The online HNN article gave a little info on the subject) In general, I'd like to see anything military-wise outside of the commercial factions for the CIS, sort of a counterpart to info on the PDFs for the Republic.
     
  8. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Nov 28, 2009
    I was part of a project on other forums that wanted to sort of redesign much of the mythos and I proposed that the Confederacy would likely have a strong support base in terms of biological conscripts. A lot of the Outer Rim worlds seemed to be disenfranchised with the Republic as it was, so it wouldn't surprise me if Dooku had been able to convince most of them to fight against the Republic, and then relying on droids to supplement his ground troops.

    I see no reason why the Confederacy had to be the designated villain of the piece. If anything, the Republic was just as corrupt, and it had an even worse Sith Lord leading it.
     
  9. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Nov 7, 2000
    Please, anything but the umpteenth mentioning or description of the battle of Yavin. Or Endor. Or Ruusan.

    I want to see how the goals of people are broken down into doctrines strategies and tactics, how the resources they have available influence their approachs to certain problems, how they use their equipment, why this way and not that way, if you get what I mean. [face_praying]
     
  10. jSarek

    jSarek VIP star 4 VIP

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    Feb 18, 2005
    Given that the book has to appeal to casual "I've only ever seen the movies" fans, I doubt you're going to get that wish. Be comforted that at least it's Jason Fry describing those battles, so we're likely to get some good retcons meshing *past* mentions and descriptions of those battles in a more cohesive way.
     
  11. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Nov 7, 2000
    On the contrary. "I've only ever seen the movies"-fans won't care about the battle of Ruusan, but they might wonder why the Empire used AT-ATs instead of Juggernaughts/turbotanks during the battle of Hoth or why a movement made up of thousands of separatistic worlds largely employs droids (because without their large corporate backers they neither have the man-power nor the resources to stand against the Republic).
     
  12. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jun 12, 2009
    Actually, in Entrenched, we see the Empire landing Juggernauts along with the walkers. The transports used in this were called Acclamator-class transport dropships in the Complete Encyclopedia (under Imperial landing craft (I)), apparantly a variant of the Acclamator. They did seem to be stuck a bit in the snow and might explain why they weren't on the frontlines in that battle. I only hope the descriptions add in a reference of all vehicles used, which thanks to the myriad sources include over a dozen different vehicle models on both sides by now. :p
     
  13. Xicer

    Xicer Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 21, 2008
    One thing I want to see is an expansion on the GeNode stormtrooper program from Pax Empirica, and how 40% of stormtroopers had already been cloned from a single GeNode template by the time of the Battle of Kashyyyk in 19 BBY. I also noticed that the "first-generation" GeNodes the story describes sort of resemble clone troopers, so I'm wondering if the original GeNodes were created from Jango's DNA.
     
  14. Armchair_Admiral

    Armchair_Admiral Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 31, 2005
    I'mmmm baaaaaaack, and I have some unfinished business to attend to. Namely, dumping curious quotes from the ROTS novelization so that my "project" is finally finished:

    Always nice to be reminded of how powerful turbolasers are. :p

    Judging by that first paragraph, it seems the standard CWAS-newsreel opening proclaiming Separatist victories will get used all the way until war?s end? even with the Republic laying siege to CIS worlds. As for that bolded part, that directly contradicts the original microseries where Mace Windu outright states that the Droid Army made no attempt at taking the Senate. Another continuity mistake by the microseries?

    A curious home-front observation: children tended to be excessively optimistic in their faith in the Republic?s ability to succeed. I suspect that this is the result of massive amounts of wartime propaganda present in the education system.

    It always bugs me how much of the EU seems to forget the first sentence concerning droid starfighters. Makes me wonder how well folks like Rogu
     
  15. Jeff_Ferguson

    Jeff_Ferguson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 15, 2006
    Jason Fry!!!

    I was just wondering if this is indeed you. Can you help me out?

    Thanks! You are a champion.
     
  16. jasonfry

    jasonfry VIP star 4 VIP

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    Nov 11, 2003
    Yes, that's me. Hopefully I'm not screwing anything up.
     
  17. FTeik

    FTeik Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2000
    I?ve-only-ever-seen the movies-fan:
    ?Entrenched? WTF is Entrenched? Complete Encyclopedia? SW has something like a Complete Encyclopedia? Myriad sources? How am I supposed to afford them with the financial meltdown? HELP!!!? [face_laugh]

    No continue-mistake at all:
    ?But then new reports trickle in-only rumors at first - that the attack wasn't an invasion at all. That the Separatists weren't trying to take the planet. That this was a lightning raid on the Senate itself.?

    The ROTS-VD tells us, that the last generation-droids can keep up with the best clone- and JedI-pilots, that the Sith have been emptying the coffers of the TradeFederation to ensure technical parity and that Darth Sidious keeps the Seperatists supplied with technological specs/blueprints about Republic hardware, so the CIS knows the weak points.

    I guess in the end the answer for the vastly different droid-performances will be, that it always depends on how much money you are willing to pay for their brains. The Vultures for example are still said to be controlled by a central computer, while the tri-droids are capable of independent thinking.

    Maybe because Grievous is transmitting on those frequencies the CIS aren?t blocking.

    Or - more likely - his kilometer-long destroyer can put a lot more energy into its transmissions than a tiny fighter.

     
  18. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 23, 2005
    Or, we are seeing the value of dedicated flagships, able to burn through ECM and keep communications going.
     
  19. Jeff_Ferguson

    Jeff_Ferguson Force Ghost star 5

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    May 15, 2006
    You're doing great! We were just seeking confirmation so we could source things to your edits. :p
     
  20. MercenaryAce

    MercenaryAce Chosen One star 6

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    Aug 10, 2005
    Maybe I remember incorrectly, but didn't the ICS:RotS say there was something special about the Invisible Hand's communication equipment? Like a protortype or really high end system?
     
  21. jasonfry

    jasonfry VIP star 4 VIP

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    Nov 11, 2003
    Wracking my brain thinking I'm forgetting something...any particularly good examples of Republic/Separatist propaganda from tales already told? (You'll like Ryloth Resa and the Byblos geneticist Ull Haber, though. They should be ashamed of themselves.)
     
  22. Tzizvvt78

    Tzizvvt78 Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jun 12, 2009
    Anything like Tokyo Rose and Lord Haw-Haw?

    As for propaganda, there's the HoloNet News podcasts. The ones published in connection for the Republic Heroes game were particularly obvious.
     
  23. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004
    propaganda? hmm...

    including or excluding the Republic Commando series claims about clone numbers, droid numbers and exaggerations? :p
    or the designers inuniverse jokes about ship lengths
     
  24. Malachi108

    Malachi108 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 8, 2009
    What examples of CW-era propaganda I could remember:

    *The story of Phow Ji from Medstar I was used to present him as a Hero making a sacrifice. Jedi Twilight says that Palps even had a statue of Ji erected on Coruscant.

    *Palpatine's pro-Jedi speech from Lightsaber Lost is a hilarious example all by itself.

    *TCW comics Hero of the Confederacy has Dooku using Tofen Vane both a weapon and a propaganda symbol.

    *Need I mention the whole "Hero with No Fear" thing?

    *And then of course there is Odds. And I won't say anything else on that matter :p

    *Holonet News and CIS Shadowfeed were engaged in a constant propaganda clash, as indicated by several sources, such as Insider excepts of Shadowfeed and Holonet, the entirety of Holonet News podcast and ROTS novelization, which has the following quote that sums it all: "Winning this war was more than half a matter of propaganda: much of the weakness of the Republic grew from its citizens' superstitious dread of the Separatists' seemingly inevitable victory-a dread cultivated and nourished by the CIS shadowfeed that poisoned government propaganda on the HoloNet."
     
  25. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    Count Dooku's oratory skills are often mentioned but rarely seen in full force.