How Good Was Ackbar?

Just how smart was Admiral Ackbar? He was the best in the Rebel Alliance but there are no books about him. Did he compare to Thrawn or did people like Bel Iblis out do hin?

 

read destiny's way.

 

Well, we know from Thrawn's actions what he thought of Ackbar. One of Thrawn's main strategic objectives and a major portion of his plan was to render Ackbar powerless.

Why would this figure so heavily in Thrawn's plans. As one of the top strategists for the Empire, Thrawn knew what we all know.

Ackbar was the best.

Thrawn had to take Ackbar out, because he knew he couldn't beat the Mon Cal military savant extraordinaire on equal terms. Ackbar was simply better than him. And Thrawn knew it.

 

I already did a thread on this, but let me give you the run down on Ackbar:

Admiral Ackbar joined the Alliance shortly before the Battle of Yavin, after being rescued from Grand Moff Tarkin. His first major accomplishment was a battle that drew attention from the Alliance's evacuation of Yavin. He is promoted to commander and goes back to Calamari. Once there, he convinces his people to join the Rebel Alliance, and donate there massive fleet of Star Cruisers. He is then instrumental in designing the B-Wing. Mon Mothma then promotes Ackbar to the rank of Admiral and gived him command of the entire Rebel Fleet. You know what happens at Endor. After that, he is named to be part of the New Republic's Provisional council. He is givent he rank of Supreme Commander of the NR defense force, a post he holds until his retirement nearly 20 years later. It was Ackbar who lead a series of assaults on the Imperial held Core worlds, liberating several of them. He defeats Grand Admiral Syn at the Battle of Kashyyyk. He leads the liberation of Coruscant, and also plans the attacks on Warlord Zsinj. He helped defend the NR during the Thrawn campaign, and lead the NR fleet during the Battle of Bilbringi. During the reborn Emperors attacks on the NR, Ackbar led several attacks into the deep Core. He also helped keep the NR together. He fought against Daala and several other warlords. During the Yevethan crisis, he helped turn the tide of public opinion in favor of the war, and made sure the Fifth fleet was ready for action. Shortly after this, Ackbar led a major offensive against the Imperial Remnant, which was under the leadership of Pellaeon. He wins a series of major but costly victories, whcih reduce the Empire to a mere 8 sectors and helped convince Pellaeon to sue for peace. He also led a fleet during the Corellian Crisis.

Ackbar retires 21 years after the Battle of Endor. He was the Supreme Commander of the New Republic Defense Force for 20 years. There were many other good commanders, like Wedge and Bel Ibis, but overall Ackbar was one of the greatest heros of the Rebellion and the New Republic. Also, he came out of retirement during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, and planned the Battle of Ebaq Nine, which helped turn the tide of the war.

You are right, Ackbar doesn't have a book about himself. But, the Rogue Squadron comics, the X-Wing books, the Jedi Acadmemy trilogy, Darksaber, the Black Fleet crisis, Destiny's Way, and countless other books mention Ackbar and his accomplishments. Myself an some others on this thread hope that one day someone will write a novel on the battles that Ackbar and Pellaeon fought 13 years after Endor. They would be some great books.

If you have any specific questions about Ackbar, you can post them here. I am what you would call an "Ackbar Fan". Just look at my picture!

 

I have read destiney's way and I allready know about the life and history of Admiral Ackbar, All I wanted to know was was he good, and of course Genghis comes to the rescue.

 

Ackbar's New Essential Guide to Characters entry, viewable on an Amazon.cm excerpt, is simple fantastic and highly informative.

 

Actually, Ghengis, Thrawn easily saw through Ackbar's best plan, the Tangrene/Bilbringi bait-and-switch, as others have coined it.

It was just a lot easier to walk over a New Republic Defense Force led by the militarily useless Borsk Fey'Lya than.

That said, Ackbar was a very, very good tactician and operational planner. Even though we only get snippets of his overall career, we see him win against fairly canny opponents time and again. He managed to outfight an Imperial Grand Admiral (Syn) on one occasion, and proved to be more than a match for most Imperial officers. Admiral Rogriss managed to hold his own against the Calamarian, and Pellaeon beat him once or twice (I only know of the two incidents, and they fought several times in the tail end of the war--now *that* says something), but otherwise, his enemies tended to wind up dead.

Admiral Daala was no match for him (but Admiral Daala shouldn't have even held a commission, so that ain't saying much), Krennel folded like a bad poker player, and even though Admiral Sutten managed to hold out for a long time, he eventually wound up defeated, too.

Ackbar was very good in his day, and even now that his health is failing him and his faculties are starting to slip, he was able to plan the operation that resulted in the victory at Ebaq.

 

I second what Bass said, Ackbar is better than most, at least in the top 1/4, but he's no Thrawn. Not by a long shot. The fact that the Imperial military (which was on equal terms with his own numerically as of Heir to the Empire) managed to double their territory in less than a year with Thrawn running the show is more than enough proof of that, Tangrene/Bilbringi aside.

 

I agree. But, I thinl I remember a line in Dark Forces Rising were Thrawn observes, "Ackbar's people must still be in command". Thrawn says this because he reconizes a formation that Ackbar developed. I am almost positive Borsk never got his fingers on the military.

Also, I agree with Genghis. Thrawn knew that if he could get Ackbar removed that he would have an easier go at the NR. Thrawn did see through Ackbars trap.

All the same, Ackbar is the man. Like I have said before, he was Supreme Commander for his entire carrer in the New Republic. Just read the NJO, every other line during a section on the military says stuff like, "Wish Ackbar was back", or "Ackbar would never of let that happen."

Lastly, the best quote ever on Ackbar. It comes from Destiny's Way:

Pg. 290

"Two hours after the end of the meeting, the signal ACKBAR IS BACK was broadcast to all New Republic military units. In some of the larger ships, the cheering went on for over an hour." He was THAT good!

 

"Thrawn says this because he reconizes a formation that Ackbar developed. I am almost positive Borsk never got his fingers on the military."

Fey'lya did control the military, if not in fact, then surely in loyalty. Remember when Wedge was told "Oh, you're one of Ackbar's diehards. Forget it, he's lost any touch he once had with the common fighting man." Thrawn himself once commented on the fact when he was assaulting a NR convoy and found it defended by A-wings, and commented something to the effect of "The A-wing's speed advantage is wasted on escort duty. We must be seeing Fey'lya's influence on the Rebel military."

Of course, the Quenfis's captain put a stop to that and slowed down Fey'lya's bid for power when he joined the fight for the Katana fleet and had Fey'lya arrested.

 

Ackbar is very good. He doesn't seem to quiet match up to Thrawn, IMHO, so perhaps we should ask whether Ackbar or Bel Iblis is the better NR commander?

Who is this Sutten fella, anyways?
And how did Ackbar compare up to Piett, in your opinion?

 

For what it's worth, we know for a fact that Bel Iblis was a better commander than Drayson, as he relieved him at Coruscant in The Last Command. I'd say that Bel Iblis is at least as compotent as Ackbar, given Thrawn's apparent respect for him.

Ackbar and Piett seem to be on equal footing, with a slight edge to Ackbar. The fact that Piett was good enough to survive a year serving under Lord Vader says a lot about his skills. Piett's forces at Endor weren't really under his command, so the fact that they seemed to falter after the Emperor stopped controlling them via the Force wasn't really his fault.

 

One cool thing about Ackbar was that he was modest. He knew his limits and strengths. Also, while Thrawn may have tricked him, Ackbar learned a great deal from him. He developed the Thrawn Pincer tactic and used it sucessfully against Krennel. Ackbar also learned alot of useful stuff from his time as a slave to Tarkin.

 

Ackbar seems to have better demonstrated more than any other strategist/tactician an ability to learn strategy and tactics from his enemies and put it to good use.

 

All righty there, so if the Imperial fleet at Endor wasn't under Piett's or the Grand Admirals' command, and since Vader or Palps obviously isn't commanding the fleet directly, who IS commanding it?
Moff Jerjerod?
I don't think so.

I always thought Ackbar using the Thrawn Pincer on Krennel was a stroke of genius.
Speaking of the Thrawn pincer, why didn't anyone use it against the Vong?

 

Sutten was in command of a small fleet in a short story from SWAJ. He held out for about a month in some sort of shoal zone, but Ackbar eventually got 'im.

 

When did it take place and how large was it. Is there a link on the Web were I can get info on it???

 

Piett was a good politician/survivalist...

Thrawn was a good strategist (long-range planner)...

Ackbar & Bel Iblis are good tacticians (short-range planners)...

 

Besides being a great Supreme Commander, I always liked the fact that Ackbar was truly devoted to his duty and the New Republic. He never seemed to care for power and increasing his own reputation, unlike others....*cough* Fey'lya *cough*. I really enjoy Ackbar's portrayl in the Black Fleet Crisis. You really get to see alot of his duties. Also, Ackbar seemed to respect his enemies.

I was thrilled that Destiny's Way brought back Ackbar. I hope to see more of him in the next couple books. Either way, he goes down into SW history as one of the Rebellion/NR/GA's greatest heroes.

 

In general I tend to rank the Imperial and Rebellion commanders through a number of factors...

Grand Admiral Thrawn was the best tactician the empire had. He could operate long term and he could operate short term with equal clarity with the disturbing ability to view in art preferences a person's innermost desires.

Thrawn on the other hand was also extremely arrogant and overestimated his ability to manipulate people and inspire loyalty.

Joruus C'Boath, the Noghri, Karrde, and others proves time and time again that he often overplans his maciavellian gambits.

Admiral Ackbar is a student of Grand Moff Tarkin who seems to have been one of the Empire's best stratedgists (not tacticians). We know he also enjoyed personal combat and control so its questionable though how good a tactician he was overall.

We only get snippets from Daala's use of his tactics, Rogue Planet, and of course the fact that he ignores the rebel's fighter threat.

My guess is that Admiral Ackbar ranks around the area of Pellaeon at the height of his career.

He managed to turn the Rebel alliance military into a force capable of defeating the Empire as a whole and defeated a Grand Admiral which I think is indication that he has the same level of genius.

Piett has been claimed to be of a level equal to the Grand Admirals tactics wise but I question personally how much of that is due to Vader's influence who I think is overlooked as one of the galaxy's best commanders.

Yes he sucked to work under but the Empire produced a crop of complete morons really. Vader wanted people like Fett and Tarkin not fawning fools.

That's my thoughts at least

 

I agree. You know, that snippit in the New Essential Guide to Characters about Piett being as good as a Grand Admiral is pretty strange. There has never been any documented sources showing his brilliance. He definately was a survivor, but I never considered Piett to be one of the "greats". He would never stack up to people like Ackbar, Pellaeon, Bel Ibis, etc.

Also, I agree with your comment of Thrawn being arrogant. It was one of his few noticable flaws. It also undid him.

 

Ackbar is the tightness!!!!

-KNick

 

I personally actually want to wonder just how "good" the grand Admirals are in all honesty as well.

Admittadly they are probably the 12 best human officers out of a billion billion folk but it strikes me that they might have also been chosen for their adeptness at enforcing the Tarkin doctrine and their wild personality flaws that made them ideal for their job.

Grand Admiral Zaarin after all was a techno-phile and relied on this particular ability above all others.

I imagine he had a universal energy cage for dealing with Palpatine's kidnapping.

One was a New Order fanatic who commited suicide he was so distraught over the Emperor

Another was a religious fanatic in the Dark Side of the Force....

It strikes me one could rise very far in the Empire simply by being completely amoral, opportunistic, and being bold faced crazy enough to try something to attract the Emperor's attention like mesmerizing your entire planet with a brainwashing device

 

True. I am sure many good officers were passed over by Palpatine because they were not his type. Some of the 12 Grand Admirals seemed more like pyschos than geniuses.

Also, several of them seemed to be motivated by lust of power, not victory for the Empire. Thrawn was a masterful leader, but he had some flaws.

In all honesty, I rate Pellaeon above Thrawn. He is level headed and realisitic. He also seems to be able to admit his own failures.

That is why I put the leaders like Ackbar and Pellaeon above all others. They were good at what they did, honest, and knew how to admit that they were beaten/wrong but then learn from it. Thats why they have lasted so long.

 

"All righty there, so if the Imperial fleet at Endor wasn't under Piett's or the Grand Admirals' command, and since Vader or Palps obviously isn't commanding the fleet directly, who IS commanding it? "

The Emperor was providing battle coordination from his throne. In actual command by rank, that would fall to Lord Vader, then one of the three Grand Admirals at Endor, followed by Piett.

"Thrawn on the other hand was also extremely arrogant and overestimated his ability to manipulate people and inspire loyalty."

If a certain pregnant princess hadn't intervened, the Noghri would have been none the wiser, and still in the Empire's service. Thrawn also knew that C'baoth would eventually grow beyond his control, which is why he sent him back to Wayland in the first place.

Regarding Piett, we don't have much to go on except him managing to keep his command aboard the Executor for a full year. THat has to be a record.

"In all honesty, I rate Pellaeon above Thrawn. He is level headed and realisitic. He also seems to be able to admit his own failures. "

Given an equal number of ships, and told to fight to the bitter end, my money is on the man with the red eyes.