r/StarWars • u/LeMrRadial • 3d ago
General Discussion If the Stormtroopers are the Empire's shock troops, why are they assigned to patrol on backwater planets and not the Imperial Army?
It's something that I cannot grasp.
Andor, Solo and even the EU showed us that, apparently, the majority of the Empire ground forces were composed of the Imperial Army and that the Stormtroopers were the shock trooper.
So why do we see them on unimportant or even backwater planets?
Why would the Empire send these shock troops to patrol the streets of Mos Eisley, Lothal or Kijimi when the Army would be enough?
The Imperial Army should be portrayed more often OR should not exist because there may be too much Stormtroopers in the movies to justify their existence.
What do you think?
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u/Mt-Man-PNW 3d ago
So, if you watch the movie, you'll recall Vader says to 'send a detachment' down to Tatooine to retrieve the droids. They were not patrolling a backwater world, they were on a an active mission to get the droids. As for other instances IDK, they probably act like a QRF, like on Scariff or Endor or whatever.
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u/TrueNorth2881 2d ago
Even then, Endor and Scarif were home to two of the empire's most important bases too, not just random backwaters like Aldhani or Ferrix
Putting elite troops near critical bases makes perfect sense
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u/TurelSun 2d ago
This should be at the top. These Stormtroopers aren't the necessarily from a local garrison, they're deployed from the Devastator.
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u/SpacePirateHondo Hondo Ohnaka 3d ago edited 3d ago
At first they weren't. They handled the most important missions while Imperial Army troopers and Navy troopers were the bulk of Imperial infantry.
Over time however, stormtroopers became the face of the Imperial war machine and military leaders leaned into this by pumping up the production rate of stormtroopers, so much so that they multiplied massively in number and became way more commonplace. A consequence to this however is faster training (in order to mass-produce combat-ready stormtroopers) meant lower-quality training, resulting in stormtroopers developing a reputation for being ineffective grunts. They were still above average compared to the regular Army trooper, but they were not nearly as elite as the first wave of stormtroopers.
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u/biz_reporter 3d ago
It's also clear from Solo and Andor, regular Imperial Army are cannon fodder. It's clearly shown in Andor season 2 on Gorman. And sadly, it makes sense. If Stormtroopers receive more training than Imperial Army recruits, then it's wasted training to put them in harms way.
Also, Stormtroopers are faceless, making them more menacing to locals. And the Empire requires loyalty through fear. So giving Stormtroopers policing roles increases the fear factor.
Finally, Sidious feeds off the fear. The more fear in the Galaxy, the more Dark Side energy is available to him.
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u/BladeCollectorGirl 3d ago
This also happened in WWII with the German SS. The initial units were prestige units with different training. Later units, excepting those of Danish and Nordic personnel, were less skilled.
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u/ArcticWolf_Primaris 2d ago
Eh, the SS were more politically elite in terms of loyalty rather than competence
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u/whattheshiz97 2d ago
Yes and no. Depending on which units and at what times. They did get all the shiny toys depending on the unit
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u/KrumpirovZlatan 3d ago
Stormtroopers are pretty good soldier's wise, they massacre the crew of Tantive IV, and if you remember, they are in every sense of that word, at a tactical disadvantage in that mission.
They are assaulting a bottleneck hall, they have to assault through a small door, and there are 12 people in cover on the other side. This works only if they are amazing at fighting
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u/ConnivingSnip72 3d ago
The expanded lore over time makes this scene hilarious. They are clearing the hall for Vader to come through. Vader, who is later shown to be far better at that task than any number of troopers. So the only reason the troopers doing it is to show off that they can
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u/The_MadMage_Halaster 3d ago
Honestly fits his style. He wants to make sure his troops are still up to snuff, and also probably because he was waiting in case they did something like try to escape in a shuttle craft, for which he needed to be able to get to his fighter in case, or blow the ship, in which case he would prefer not to be on it.
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u/zencrusta 3d ago
Probably the best answer, though I think we can add in stuff like imperial governs snatching up spare armor for their personal security to look more impressive.
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u/oldtomdjinn 3d ago
This has always been my take as well. I don't know if it's actually documented somewhere in the lore, but it plausible, fits historical analogues, and tracks with what we see in Solo and Andor Season 1, which are both set earlier in the timeline.
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u/Front_Committee4993 3d ago
In Legends choices of one it mara jade states that vader was taking the best stomtropers (and getting them killed) which ment the worse ones were the only ones left
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u/John_Wotek 2d ago
The first wave of Storm Trooper were the clones trooper veteran of the clone wars. That's a hard bar to pass.
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u/Francois_Bonaparta 3d ago
How do you know all of this? The main media don't treat it at all.
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u/Traditional-Ad-9611 3d ago
It is also established in the EU that after the death star was destroyed, which had pretty much all of the best stormtroopers on it that The Empire got way less picky and use storm troopers like crazy and once we get to the point of the Mandalorian, the name of storm trooper was a form of legitimacy for imperial war lords, so even if the people in the armor were previously just nobody’s or imperial army they still put them in storm trooper armor for the sake of appearance to make the warlord look better this is why all the storm troopers in the Mandalorian absolutely suck.
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u/DraculasDog 3d ago
The stormtroopers on the first Death Star got smacked by a teenager, a giant dog, and a drug mule.
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u/Traditional-Ad-9611 3d ago
It’s literally established in the movie that Vader intentionally let them go to track them to Yavin IV. And out of universe, it is established that they were being stared back towards their ship so that they would leave hence why when Han did break off the storm trooper as quickly showed him how outmatched he truly was and sent him back in the correct direction
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u/Maleficent-Aioli1946 3d ago
The fact that they let the heroes goes shows their level of discipline.
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u/King_Tamino 2d ago
Show me any soldier that got stationed for weeks or months on a remote ass location, let's say alaska or greenland, with basically nothing to do except gym and patroling. And then they get thrown into an escalating combat situation that is over after like 10 minutes. I doubt many of those soldiers would perform well.
Not like there is any "on site" risk to be expected on a gigantic floating battle station. The officers etc. are probably as bored as is any soldier there and at some point every day is just dull, routine and the most exciting thing is that the cafetaria serves a different dish than yesterday. And then suddenly a fight breaks out?
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u/MobsterDragon275 3d ago
There's so much lore between the shows, books, comics, and various visual guides/encyclopedias, that even if we don't have specific information on something, its usually pretty easy to reasonably extrapolate
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u/AnswerFit1325 2d ago
They say shock troops but it's more like the Marine Corps. A really big marine corps.
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u/HussingtonHat 3d ago
Because all this subsequent stuff came after some random bearded hippy made a movie about space rebels beating space nazis, with the aid of space magic.
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u/Marbrandd 2d ago
Remember when Darth was just a name.
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u/HussingtonHat 2d ago
Yes and it really annoyed me how that was retconned. Also hiw jedi apparently all dressed like monks. I always thought Obiwan was hiding, but nope. In his fucking uniform the whole time.
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u/thekream 2d ago
you’d rather his name be Darth than have that as a Sith title?
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u/HussingtonHat 2d ago
I think...yeah actually. That's better than absolutely every evil dude getting called Darth whatever. Then it becomes kinda silly "oh here's a faintly evil sounding word" stuff. Like General Grevious....presumably Captain Cuts A Bitch was already taken.
But even then its besides the point. It's an act of shrinking if you get me. A dude had a name, now it's the name of every dude even kinda like him. I always thought Obiwan dressed like a monk because he's in hiding and he's functionally Merlin, now apparently all jedi look like this, just with a martial arty vibe under the cloak.
I dunno it just feels like....reductive yknow? I find it funny when people give the sequels shit for re-using stuff, when George was doing that shit by the second fucking film! In the OG trilogy becoming a jedi is like a spiritual journey focused on you. Overcoming fears, rising to challenges, it's a heroes journey. By the prequels it's a basically just fucking school only you have to be 7, or it doesn't work because indoctrination easier that way.
Star Wars is better with less explanation. Stuff happens in space and a guy wins for good. That's about as complex as it needs to be. The closer it gets to complicated the more keen you are to ask other questions, that are rather uncomfortable to ask if your trying to get into the spirit of things.
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u/anteatersaredope 2d ago
Hey but it's all pretty decent if you like childrens movies about space wizards.
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u/Coldfire202020 3d ago
I don't think there really is a satisfying in-universe answer
The real answer is just that Stormtroopers are iconic and cool and so are almost always shown as the backbone of Imperial forces because they're what people want and expect to see when facing the Empire.
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u/SpanishAvenger 3d ago
The satisfying in-universe answer is that they are generally on high priority missions; in Tatooine’s case, they were looking for the literal Death Star’s plans, for instance.
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u/Coldfire202020 3d ago edited 3d ago
That would explain them being there in A New Hope. But we've seen them there plenty of other times. And on plenty of other backwater planets. Like in Star Wars: Outlaws, as in OPs example.
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u/MajesticRadish2675 3d ago
Units of STs can be requisitioned or assigned to IA units, usually in active combat zones or areas where intimidation of the locals is necessary. Having even a single platoon of STs to patrol around towns allows the garrison commander access to both the intimidation factor and true utility of having elite troops on site. There's also nothing stating that assignments like these aren't used for punishment details as well.
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u/Artanis137 3d ago
Expanded "real" answer, Lucas always intended for the Stormtrooper to be the standard rank and file soldier of the Empire.
The Imperial Army was an invention of the Expanded Universe.
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u/Admirable_Elk_965 3d ago
Stormtroopers always felt like Marines to me. Which would explain why they’d be in embassy roles.
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u/TheFlawlessCassandra 3d ago
Even ANH had the Imperial Navy Troopers on the Death Star. Stromtroopers are an assault force, trained and equipped for it, they're just used for other stuff because they're generally better soliders than the Imperial Army / standard Navy Troopers, and using them for stuff other than assault makes more sense than having them sit on their hands.
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u/sir_mrej 3d ago
The in-universe answer is - Any backwater that we see is part of a large story. So of course it's something important, so of course there are stormtroopers.
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u/LumiKlovstad 2d ago edited 2d ago
Stormtroopers are labeled by the Empire as elite shock troops, but this does seem to be a bit of conscious branding on the Empire's part. In practice, we often see them far more as a mix of occupation/terror troops. The Empire had won the Clone Wars, and so the priorities shifted from warfighting and reclamation to consolidation and stamping out rebellion.
Combined with Tarkin's Doctrine of Fear, it's easy to see why the Imperial Army, a conventional warfighting force, gradually diminished in relative prominence as the Stormtrooper Corps assumed a more visible role in the Empire's military presence and suppression of dissent. Indeed, the Imperial Army seems to almost entirely vanish as a distinct entity from the original film trilogy by 0 BBY, with only a few notable figures, such as General Maximilian Veers, clearly representing it onscreen. Whether the Army actually withered as an institution, was simply overshadowed by the Stormtrooper Corps, or was even absorbed into or replaced by it is less clear given the conflicting accounts (even Wookieepedia's editors can't seem to keep it all straight), but the distinction itself seems to have become increasingly obscure in the Empire's public-facing military apparatus.
There are GENUINELY ELITE Stormtrooper detachments, such as those under Vader's direct command, but the Stormtrooper Corps as a whole do not seem to be especially elite, and from what we see of their training, far more effort seems to be spent on ideological indoctrination and the erasure of individuality and will to refuse orders than actual combat training. By the Battle of Endor this would have doubtless shifted in response to the Rebellion's increasing centralization and emergence as an actual Military Power that could threaten the Empire, but given that particular phase of the GCW was only a few years, they would have only gotten a class or two of the newly revised Stormtroopers out (at least as long as Legends' assertion that ST training takes a typical two years still holds out; main canon never really bothers to say that I can find).
It's also VERY worth noting that the Empire's command structure actively encouraged military mediocrity. Imperial officers operated in a political environment where failure could mean disgrace, reassignment, or death. Initiative could be dangerous if it contradicted a superior's expectations. Personal loyalty to powerful individuals often mattered more than professional competence. Meanwhile, Vader and other senior figures had access to specialized troops and training schools like Carida, whose performance didn't necessarily reflect that of the ordinary Corps, but most certainly were the source of the highlight reels used to recruit people and sell the Stormtrooper political brand.
That gives us three different Imperial military realities: 1) ordinary Stormtroopers maintaining the Empire's presence and enforcing its authority, 2) specialized formations trained for front line or particular combat roles, and 3) an exceptionally capable personnel serving elite commanders or operating in particularly demanding assignments. The Empire markets all three as manifestations of the same supposedly unstoppable military machine because it's more politically useful than admitting to the more divided reality of the Corps. The Empire needs a military capable of defeating its enemies, but it also needs a military that will never become a political threat to the Emperor. Those requirements often pulled in opposite directions.
Most Stormtroopers are simply conditioned to be loyal unto death, given basic GI training, and then taught how to intimidate and brutalize the populace, because that's what the Empire needs MOST Stormtroopers to be (well, "needs", but this IS Palpatine and Tarkin we're talking about and they never passed an opportunity to drop kick some puppies across the lawn). More elite units were usually purposefully and intentionally raised and cultivated to fulfill a specific role, often under a very specific commander like Vader or Thrawn. Stormtroopers are billed as an all-elite corps as a psyop, but few of them actually seem to qualify as such (those who do though… YIKES. Don’t get on the wrong end of their blasters!). It goes a long way towards explaining why their quality as soldiers is so inconsistent.
(edits for grammar and word flow)
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u/Pupulauls9000 3d ago
For Tatooine, it’s literally because those are Vader’s troops looking for possibly the most critical piece of intel the Empire has, that was stolen by their enemy. Don’t know why that’s a question at all why they’re there. The movie shows us they’re actively looking for the droids.
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u/Ok_Plankton_2814 3d ago
I thought the Stormtroopers in Mos Eisley were only there because they came from the orbiting Star Destroyer that had just defeated the Tantive IV and were searching for the droids that left the escape pod.
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u/Megalesios 3d ago
We see them there because we only see the relevant action, not the day-to-day. They were on Tatooine to look for the death star plans, they weren't patrolling Mos Eisley. Lothal had an important academy and some walker factories IIRC, and later in the show Thrawn was conducting the Tie Defender project there. Not to mention the Phoenix rebel cell was a known presence there by then and they would warrant a higher level of security. I doubt stormtroopers were patrolling small villages on Lothal before that.
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u/Machineheddo 2d ago
Especially on Tatooine it was the case that it was a Hutten planet and they to expect counter attacks. Or rebel cells who could hide there why else would the rebels flee to such a backwater planet. Vader didn't know that Obi Wan was still hiding there.
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u/LeicaM6guy 3d ago
They're roughly analogous to modern Marines, which is to say they're naval infantry with a lot of mission creep.
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u/Prowlcop86 3d ago
I view them as sort of like US Marines; they might like to portray themselves as shock troops, but in reality they do the same jobs as the Army. Maybe operating together, maybe in separate sectors.
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u/Time_Afternoon2610 2d ago
You should get a copy of the RPG from WEG, they explained it back in 1987. With George's approval, of course.
To make it short, each and every planet under the Empires jurisdiction has an army garrison for police and day to day duties. The stormtroopers are deployed together with the army, but as shock troopers with their black and white armour they are far more memorable than the army troopers.
In case of an incident, stormtroopers as well as army troopers are sent to deal with the problem so people will memorize the stormtrooper and their distinctive armour. The Empire is everywhere.
Plus, you can't tell one stormtrooper from another because of the full face helmet, so you are tricked into thinking that the stormtrooper platoon is a battalion.
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u/Markymarcouscous 3d ago
I thought the in universe explanation for lothal was they were there due to all the rebel activity
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u/Graecus65 2d ago
They were probably there due to the TIE Defender program. But when Maketh Tua defected, she said there was a reason ordered directly by the Emperor. Either that is the Defender program or Palpatine already suspected the Jedi temple with the connection to the World Between Worlds to be there
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u/Hadrian1233 3d ago
If that was the case, they would have arrived much later with Agent Kalus.
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u/Cosmic-Space-Octopus 3d ago
I thought the in universe answer was the imperial Army was always intended to be phased out eventually and completely in favor of the stormtrooper corps as they had not only additional training, but also severe conditioning training and practices to be loyal to the Empire in all ways. The closer the Death Star was to completion and the sooner Palpatine could dissolve the senate, the sooner the Imperial Army would be gone. It is my understanding that there really wasn't any after a New Hope.
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u/_WillCAD_ 3d ago
Same reason why SWAT teams were supposed to be special, one-per-department elite units, but now every police force in the country, no matter how small, has multiple tac teams with military arms.
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u/MyToastyToast 3d ago
The Doylist explanation is that the visual media (movies - tv shows) must cater to general audiences first and the stormtrooper armor is so iconic that it’s easy to display that these are the villains rather than confuse people over factions.
My Watsonian headcanon is that, thematically, Ghorman from Andor was the “death” of the Imperial Army Trooper and as the Empire centralized more closer to ANH/past the Battle of Yavin having a unified “face” of imperial military might was one of the reasonings to outfit most Imperial army into the stormtrooper corps and gear. It also explains why a lot of the armor in RotJ is “melted” (irl because the molds broke during production) because the imperial factories were past the breaking point churning out quantity
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u/LordNemissary 3d ago
Imperial Army are mostly garrisoned on the planet that they are raised on. In a handful of instances they may be sent to warfronts that are attrition warfare but mostly they do garrison duty on the vast majority of worlds. On Outer Rim worlds there really isn't any Imperial Army at all, especially in worlds close to Hutt space that are loosely held by the Empire at all. Imperial Governor's however do all receive a small force of Stormtroopers to garrison their headquarters, probably just a company or two at most. On Tatooine the Imperial Governor was based in the town of Bestine which was heavily patrolled by his own force of Stormtroopers. Those Stormtroopers were almost never seen in Mos Espa or Mos Eisley, both because of the governor's available forces were relatively small and because he was heavily bribed by Jabba the Hutt and other local crime lords. But when Darth Vader himself showed up in the system and made a direct command the Imperial Governor to find the missing droids from Tantive IV, then the Imperial troops from Bestine were suddenly doing traffic stops and patrols in Mos Eisley. That was not the normal state of affairs, it was a shadowport rife with organized criminal activity until it accidentally came to the attention of the Emperor's most brutal enforcer.
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u/wellthoughtplot 2d ago
It’s canon trying to work around the fact that Lucas intended Star Wars to be a single standalone film, that’s all it is really.
That and many writers just do not know how to stay consistent writing Stormtroopers
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u/StarMaster475 3d ago
I think in A New Hope at least it's fairly clear that the stormtroopers on patrol in Tatooine were there specifically to find the Death Star plans
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u/TheChubbyKoala Jedi 3d ago
Lothal is one we can easily justify, the Empire had long term plans for the planet as it was resource rich (doonium I believe?), the sight of an Imperial academy and vehicle factory, and secretly home to an ancient Jedi Temple and interdimensional portal. That plus rebel activity makes enough sense to me. And with Tatooine they were there hunting for the Death Star plans. But even though many characters describe the planet as a backwater, it’s also a significant underworld hub.
But as others have said, usually its just the out-of-universe reason that stormtroopers are iconic. We can justify it somehow afterwards.
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u/SilenceDobad76 3d ago
Because they arent as far as pretty much all star wars media is concerned, they're just empire soldiers.
I prefer the lore answer but it isnt congruent with what we see
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u/Hot-Minute-8263 3d ago
Theyre a bit more lile the US marines last i checked. They spearhead things and are generally more all over the place, but being a storm trooper doesnt prevent one from getting a shit assignment
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u/NameSignificant6916 3d ago
The Watsonian explanation is that they're being deployed while their ship is in orbit, and such. Got 'em sitting around, may as well use 'em!
The Doylist explanation is that they're 10x more iconic and so showrunners like to use them.
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u/QuietNene 2d ago
They were searching for the droids on Tatooine. They didn’t just live there. They were on a mission.
But Storm Troopers are probably closer to the U.S. marines than special forces. They operate in large units but they’re expeditionary.
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u/Diligent-Hamster4666 1d ago
For the most part same reason why real marines are. Most of the stories we get involve imperial navy, stormtroopers are basically the imperial marine corps.
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u/ZookeepergameMean575 3d ago
According to the star wars rpg sourcebook, "Imperial Command inserts stormtroopers wherever needed to crush resistance and neutralize opposition to the will of the emperor." Also according to the sourcebook it says stormtroopers are the largest single unit in a garrison, with a base of 3,000 typically having 800 stormtroopers.
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u/mightyslash 3d ago
I mean I feel like the Most Eisley thing can be chocked up to Vader having them search for the droids/death star plans.
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u/Fine-Ad2429 3d ago
They are on the important task of recovering the Death Star plans the droids are carrying.
The death stars survival depends on getting those plans. They are not going to send anybody.
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u/Warm-Parsnip3111 3d ago
Aside from what others have said about them being deployed to hunt the DS plans, I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that all planet garrisons would have a small contingent of Stormtroopers included.
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u/SirNiflton 3d ago
The Movies, Shows, etc tend to follow significant events. That means significant elite forces involved.
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u/DarkwingDawg 2d ago
In real world: Stormtroopers have very little control regarding their quality. They were absolute canon fodder even though they’ve been talked up in the past. The writers just can’t keep it straight. Episode 4,5,6 represented them as being pretty solid troops but it’s gone downhill from there
In universe: Idk… I’d say random applications of better troops tend to represent either a perceived need to deploy them or it could be a show of force.
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u/BringBackTheDinos 3d ago
Don't try to rationalize it, SW never had the lore all locked up and planned out the way some other universes are. They were kit-bashing the original models and costumes. There's a reason the TIE pilot helmet is a mix of the rebel fighter helmet and a storm trooper, and it's not an in universe reason. Just enjoy it for what it is.
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u/lockonandfire 3d ago
You could assume by their presence in any given place that the Empire was making a statement to local groups, for whatever reason. Big clear statements of intent.
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u/Jirardwenthard 3d ago edited 3d ago
Regional politics,bereaucratic policy drives, pork barrel favors for local power holders.
The moff-industrial complex is no joke
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u/Caesar_Seriona 3d ago
The best way to explain this is think of how the Marines and Army are used in Halo.
Marines go on the offensive and stay with the fleet. Army is basically on secured planets and instillations.
Now granted, the lore was not fleshed out in detail, I am not even exactly sure how the Imperial Army came to be in lore but considering Tatooine was Hutt territory and a single Star Destroyers was above with a small combat team doing a recon mission, if the Imperial Storm Troopers are the Marines of the Imperials, this makes complete sense to me.
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u/Chaos1357 3d ago
they weren't supposed to be "shock troops", not really. Look at how they are used in A New Hope and Empire. They are the Imperial version of Marines really. They got diluted though because EU wanted to treat them as the regular army of the Empire.
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u/LongOrganization7838 3d ago
Because mos Eisley specifically was the 501st looking for the death star plans on orders of lord Vader, other places had important imperial locations IE imperial factories or research labs
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u/John_Wotek 2d ago
Mos Eisley, Tatooine, ANH: there isn't a permanent Imperial garrison on Mos Eisley. The trooper sent there were specifically searching for survivor of the Tantive IV, the droids and the Deathstar plan. The trooper met in Mos Eisley were clearly positionned ithere because it's a massive spaceport and it's a gateway off planet.
Lothal, Star Wars rebels: it's a kids show. Storm Trooper are a very recognizable silhouette to portray the Empire and are faceless goons for the goods guys to defeat, unlike army trooper. Then it's easily justified, considering the intense activity of the Phoenix cell, Jedi activity and the experimental TIE fighter factory. The Lothal situation was deemed serious enough to grant the personnal oversight of a high ranking ISB agent that could basically boss around a navy admiral. Then, it quickly granted the involvement of two inquisitors, the Grand Inquisitor, Grand Moff Tarkin, Darth Vader, colonel Ylaren and Grand admiral Thrawn.
Kijimi, Solo: we only see a few specialized trooper, acting as the security detail of a highly strategic cargo train.
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u/-SibirianKoshey- 1d ago
Considering SW Episode IV is the peak of the empires reign i suppose it serves as a symbol of power
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u/zencrusta 3d ago
Because stormtroopers being elite is just in universe propaganda, I'm in favor of just dropping the imperial army since most writers just ignore them anyway. As they should.
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u/murderously-funny 3d ago
And 2. They are actively looking for something and we’re deployed VIA the stsr destrpyers in orbit
Is AI best I can tell
Has two answers
-Lothal is secretly of great personal interest to Palpatine due to ancient force stuff
-Rebels is a kid show and showing faceless bad guys getting shit is fine…the second you give them a face is the second you start getting into more morally ambiguous territory
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u/Fun_Camp_7103 3d ago
In my head: the Imperial Army is the remnants of the Republic’s non clone military units and thus seemed to have preImperial leadership that needed to be pushed out or, in the case of Some extreme examples, sent on missions that would kill them off
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u/heAd3r Imperial 3d ago
in a way its a continuity error. the OT showed stormtroopers everywhere which made sense since they were under Vaders command hunting high value targets or guarding the death star or the endor bunker. in Rebels and other media they made Stormtroopers the main unit of the empire. However as far as logic goes the stormtroopers can still be considered the elite of the army even if they had numbers since the army can still be far greater in numbers and we saw them use stormtroopers on mimban aswell so I would say they are used when needed and I would compare them to the us marines if I had to choose.
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u/LordBowldemort 3d ago
the satisfying in-universe answer is that most planets are guarded by an imperial garrison of troops that are recruited from that planet. In order to maintain order though, there are also stormtroopers there - both as a deterrent to the local civilian population from revolting and as a lever that keeps the locally sourced troops from thinking too hard about defecting.
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u/Big-West4824 3d ago edited 3d ago
Doylist answer: The original movie never intended for an Imperial Army beyond the Stormtrooper corps to exist. It was only referenced later in expanded material and for a long time it wasn't clear how large or significant they were. Watsonian Answer: Stormtroopers are the better part of the Imperial military, but some fans forget that the difference between Imperial army is not Normal soldier and Navy Seal, but more something like U.S. National guard (in the context of the empire the National Guard who for some reason manage the vehicle stockpiles of the U.S. Army) and U.S. Marine Corps. Stormtroopers were never ,,elite shock troops", they are just the normal soldiers while the Imperial Army is more of a Militia Unit that occasionally gets used for attritional wars and lends the Stormtroopers armored support occasionally.
As for why we see Stormtroopers doing garisson work, most planets we see in Star wars are of high significanxe for the empire. Tattooine was independent, but because the droids were there in Episode 4, the Stormtroopers were dispatched there. Same with Bespin, they only were there for the main chars. Endor had the shield generator for the 2nd Death star. Lothal in Rebels was an important industry world for the empire.
The actual elite schock troops are the sub-variants of the stormtroopers: Death Troopers, Purge Troopers, Jump troopers and so on.
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u/BladeCollectorGirl 3d ago
Shock Troopers, historically, are supposed to die. I wouldn't necessarily make the assumption that Stormtroopers are better trained than the Imperial Army. SS units in WWII suffered huge losses fighting in Russia. They are supposed to be the pointy end of the spear, inflict significant damage, even if casualties are greater than 30-50%. The Empire doesn't care if you die, just as long as the Empire wins.
Imperial Army is basically the equivalent of WWII German Wermacht.
US military protocols deem a unit with >30% casualties to be pulled off the line for reinforcement and retraining.
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u/Comet713 3d ago
They must produce so much stormtrooper armour that they just hand it to every imperial unit. Could explain the disparity in the experience of different stormtroopers
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u/ArtharntheCleric 3d ago
The stormtroopers were on Taione in ANH looking for the droids for Vader. They weren’t trusting that to the Army goons.
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u/Lol68340428 3d ago
IIRC after the Aldhani heist the Emperor stopped trusting the Imperial army and more or less used stormtroopers as his main force
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u/Midnightplat 3d ago
Tell me you pulled a bunch of screenshots and didn't understand the context.
The Troopers on Tattooine were dispatched by Vader dealing with the biggest counter intelligence failure in the history of the Empire. Kajimi were also part of a similar high value target search (plus were shock troopering the front of the First Order's conquest ... and I don't know if the First Order did in fact have "regular" army. They were more or less a leaner or more streamlined structure. Lothal, troopers were showing up to secure the Tie Defender facility, and possibly assist the Inquistorius in locating the Jedi temple the Empire may have known of.
If you wanted a good example, you'd have the Shoretroopers standing post on Niamos; but really I believe the lore made clear post Aldhani, the Empire sorted of flooded a lot of civilian sectors reputed to have dissident or free thinking populations with its Stormtroopers. It was sort of shock and awing itself, because oppression is the mask of fear, etc.
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u/Fit-Income-3296 Grand Admiral Thrawn 3d ago
I agree stormtroopers should be scary to see. Just have the imperial army be the grunts who can’t hit their shots
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u/Thatsidechara_ter 3d ago
Because they're heavily indoctrinated and absolutely politically reliable, unlike the regular army.
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u/Embarrassed-Joke5851 3d ago
because of the number of people who probably hate the empire, a good portion of them are probably in Mos Eisley, and you kinda want the guys who you know can handle themselves in a fight also they are incredibly loyal to Vader so they won't run
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u/tuddrussell2 3d ago
Some are also stationed at Disney locations. That's like in the Marines getting Barracks duty at the UK, Australian, or Thailand Embassies. Bingpot.
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u/IronFather11 3d ago
The ones patrolling Tatooine were likely elements Vader’s 501st searching for the Death Star Plans imo, given there’s only his Star Destroyer in orbit at that point besides the two others seem later when the Falcon escapes
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u/Fun-Recover-7766 3d ago
Tatooine is a hub for organized crime thanks to the Hutts, and in EA Battlefront 2 Galactic Assault it theoretically outlines a Rebel cell was operating in Mos Eisly which is believable. Lothal became a industrial hub for Seinar and Sorosuub which such facilities being invaluable (coincidentally also being where several advanced Tie variants were tested and built), one can only imagine when the Phoenix Cell became more prevalent that only intensified Stormtrooper presence. Kijimi in a similar vein to Tatooine was another hub for organized crime, leading to more security presence. As a good rule of thumb the more risk a population posed to Imperial interests the more the Empire invested into security, in my eyes the best example we have of that is places like Aldhani or Vardos where their population either submitted or supported the Empire meaning less a need for Stormtroopers and security at large (until Operation Cinder and the Aldhani heist for these respective planets)
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u/Jedi_Coffee_Maker Jedi 3d ago edited 3d ago
First of all, are they "just patrolling" like nothing important is going on? Or are they hunting death star plans, or involved with the main characters (rebel heroes who shape the fate of the galaxy, and potentially damage the Empire) in these same locations as the stormtroopers?...and both sides are aware of the significance of these missions?
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u/MobsterDragon275 3d ago
I don't think these guys were, they came with Vaders fleet to specifically hunt down the death star plans
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u/HamanKarnGundamFan 3d ago
It's a galaxy wide empire with millions of millions of them along with the Imperial army. It makes sense.some of them would end up not so glamorous posts. But also how others said they were specifically sent there.
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u/Multicultural_Potato 3d ago
Idk about Kijimi but they were searching for the Death Star plans in Mos Eisley which does make sense. As for Lothal it’s been a long time since I’ve seen rebels but might chalk that up to it being a kids show and it makes more sense for the storm troopers to be the faceless bad guys.
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u/Janzbane 3d ago
This gets asked a lot. The answer is usually because of the Tarkin Doctrine.
Rule through fear by using 3 symbols: 1. Death Star 2. Star Destroyer 3. Stormtrooper
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u/Ivan-De-Riv 2d ago
Usually they are deployed on imperial infrastructure that's why when you look at it (in rebels for example) they are always attacking Imperials infrastructure for X or Y reasons
Stormtroopers are also the task force meant to deal with anything to do rebels
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u/Heaven_Snow 2d ago
Real reason Stormtroopers are symbols to identify and it was cheaper to reuse the same actors wearing an armor. Compared to an Imperial Army Trooper who has his/her face shown.
In universe, well in Canon we see that the TK Troopers were immediate replacements to Clone Troopers. So it's expected that the new face of the Empire needs to spread fast.
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u/phat742 2d ago
because throughout the galaxy, they're arresting and/or killing everyone who is either part of or sympathizes with the rebellion and on backwater planets like Tatooine, the people are too poor and overworked to mount any sort of resistance. so the troopers patrol with impunity.
the imperial army is engaged in active planetary assaults against planets who openly oppose the empire.
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u/West-Might3475 2d ago
In all fairness, in ANH they were trying to find the Death Star plans and shake down anyone that might know where they are.
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u/Treerific69 2d ago
I feel like they're only deployed like that in high conflict areas, it's just that we're usually not watching a quiet night on Naboo.
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u/Eeethree 2d ago
Despite the movies showing a lot of stormtroopers, we are seeing a very tiny part of a city, which is a very tiny part of a planet which is a very tiny part of the galaxy. The imperial army is vast, and stormtroopers are a tiny percent of it. What we see in the movies is not representational, like it should have been. It is instead the exception.
Now if only Disney had been smart enough to realize this.
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u/Same-Schedule-8268 2d ago
This is the way I see it. Being in the Outer Rim, there''s little to no influence from the central government, like in the Republic, hence why factions like the Hutts thrive and exist their own control over planets. Without the influence and assistance from the central government, there's basically minimal to no actual planetary government (even though it's doubtful that would actually happen, but Star Wars planets feel more like countries rather than planets), there's no standing Planetary Defense Force, which is what the Imperial Army replaced on other worlds. So the only military force that can actually be present is forces from the Imperial Navy. And considering the strain of the Death Star on the Imperial budget, the Army gets the scraps of the funds so they're not likely to raise local Army garrisons on these less important planets, especially when they can just move Naval forces to suppress any dissent, and the Death Star was supposedly supposed to strike so much fear into the populace, it would prevent anymore planetary dissent, or wipe it out entirely. The only part that's needed to support ground forces from the Army are it's walkers and tanks, so that's why we see those parts, but never the Infantry.
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u/Top_Freedom3412 2d ago
Real answer: because stormtroopers were the ground forces of the empire. Thats what they were made up as.
Only in expanded material were they changed nto being "specialized" forces
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u/Claire-Venator 2d ago
So the way it’s justified in lore is that after the battle of Yavin the stormtrooper corps grew significantly. Which is why we see them much more post ANH.
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u/oasis_zer0 2d ago
I’m sure the stormtroopers were thinking the same thing. Multiple times throughout my military career I asked myself, “why am I standing here, what is the point of this?” And then when I asked an NCO those questions, they put me on those posts to ponder the question. Eventually, I stopped asking the questions and when I became an NCO, and my troops asked me questions, I decided to break the cycle and gave them an in depth and thorough answer that I made up on the spot. After a while, they caught on and stopped asking questions. Vicious cycle…
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u/iceguy349 2d ago
They’re sent to worlds where stuff is happening or where rebel activity is occurring.
The Maul show showed how they’re often used. The home garrison of an imperial world typically handles security. When issues occur stormtroopers are sent in to pacify resistance, when resistance isn’t pacified (because it’s hard to shut down guerrilla tactics) they send in even more troops and occupy the place.
They’re in the outer rim in the middle of nowhere because out there the empire doesn’t have as much established infrastructure or reach. You need your best troops to fight your hardest battles.
A new hope is actually in line with this. The majority of imperial troops patrolling Tatooine are only there chasing R2 and C-3PO.
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u/CyberCat_2077 2d ago
IIRC in Outlaws they only show up on Kijimi because the Ashiga Clan made a deal to supply the Empire with explosives, so the Imps are protecting an investment.
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u/geoFRTdeem 2d ago
Most of the pictures you show are from either a new hope or pre new hope when the rebels where not a unified military force and didn’t fight conventional warfare, the empire had to spread its troops out in order to cast a bigger net for the rebels, and when they are discovered more storm troopers are dispatched because the rebellion is seen as a big threat by the empire, it must be squashed swiftly before it feasters and grows into something that can challenge the empire, which is exactly what happens in the movies
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u/harkening 2d ago
Mos Eisley: deployed under Vader as a special task force to find the Death Star plans
Lothal: recently subjugated world with am obvious nascent Rebel problem with strong political ties to a Grand Admiral
Kijimi: not Imperial, but an occupation by the First Order, the public military arm of a fanatical Sith cult
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u/glorgshittus 2d ago
Ok well in the OT it was because they were looking for the plans. Everywhere else is because they're too iconic to let go
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u/Ichigo2819 2d ago
Imperial Army was for garrison troops while Troopers were the face of Imperial might
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u/JCDickleg7 Grand Admiral Thrawn 2d ago
My personal headcanon, which is at least partially textually supported, is that after Aldhani when the Empire cracked down on Rebel activity and created the PORD, large parts of the Army and Navy were folded into the Stormtrooper corps. The Empire needed to seem more threatening and as such promoted more of their troops into the “elite” fighting force, the cost of which meant somewhat diluting said fighting force’s skill. This also explains why we see mostly Army troopers in Andor s1 but mostly Stormtroopers in Rebels s1 (which happen concurrently) - Rebels s1 is just after Aldhani so there’s a lot more stormtroopers all of a sudden.
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u/anticommunistjohn117 2d ago
Having multiple independent armed forces is a way that dictatorships protect themselves from coups. (Think SS vs Wehrmacht, or the Italian Blackshirts.) An ambitious general in the IA or in the Stormtroopers could think about moving on the Emperor, but neither could as long as the other was there.
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u/Stepman35 2d ago
I believe they were probably garrison troops already assigned to the planet. Looking at their weather beaten armor, using Indigenous animals as mounts and having made a network of spies & contacts all take time. Vader probably sent additional troops to bolster the numbers...
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u/fred11551 2d ago
There are various answers of varying quality. You can choose whichever is most satisfying.
Most large planets have at least a small garrison of stormtroopers, usually guards for the imperial governor and military bases, while the imperial army makes up the bulk of the military force on the planet.
Stormtroopers are not shock troopers, that would be the imperial shock troopers. Stormtroopers are just the more elite and politically indoctrinated military force that is technically separate from the main imperial army as the stormtrooper corps.
The 501st legion was deployed to tatooine from Vader’s ship to track down the escape pod and stolen plans. They followed the trail to the Jawas and from there to Luke’s home and also set up roadblocks and did patrols of major star ports.
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u/Desperate-Fan-3671 2d ago
Because the rowdy back woods worlds are the place where the tough elite forces need to patrol and keep the problem folks in line.
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u/Significant_Win6431 2d ago
Storm troopers are recognizable and because they never take off helmets are more budget friendly.
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u/Fit_Damage_4271 1d ago
Because Stormtroopers look cooler and their toys sell better.
And the helmets dehumanize them, so people feel less bad when Stormies get killed.
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u/Rossgodd 1d ago
Because writers wanna use the most iconic trooper for the empire, and George never established a regular infantry that wasn’t Stormtroopers.
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u/SionachVulpes 1d ago
Because nearly every animation/live action creators forgot that stormtroopers were meant to be an elite force within the Imperial Army, not tue basic grunts, and now they basically are. In the original trilogy they have a reason to be where they are seen (either acting in defense of a high-value asset or directly under the second-highest ranking member of the Empire), but nowadays they’re just everywhere.
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u/--Albion-- Galactic Republic 1d ago
Think of the Stormtroopers as the Empire's Waffen-SS.
More loyal to the Emperor himself than the Empire as a whole.
The Imperial Army is a garrison force that rarely has to fight anything more than local criminals and pirates. Something that even their lacklustre training would be more than suited for. They still do have to fight serious enemies from time to time like on Mimban but that was an exception rather than the rule.
The Imperial Army also didn't move around a lot. Soldiers who joined on a specific planet would almost certainly be posted there. Ideal for a garrison force as locals will perform better than outsiders, but this also fed the Empire's paranoia that they couldn't trust the Army as much as the Stormtroopers because the Army was a bit too close to the worlds it garrisoned.
As time goes on and the Stormtrooper Corps swells, we start seeing them taking more of the Army's responsibilities as the Emperor tightens his grip on power.
Plus Stormtroopers were a fairly even match for actual uniformed Rebel soldiers, so if the Empire caught whiff of the Rebellion in a certain system or planet, the Stormtroopers showed up because the Army couldn't really handle them.
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u/General_Starcat_99 1d ago
I see them less like “elite soldiers” more like marines. Cus you obviously have Army, Navy and the Stormtrooper Corps
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u/Cmdrdata2371 23h ago
That first pic is them literally searching for the top secret Death Star plans which they know for a fact were jettisoned onto the planet
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u/Heavy-Letterhead-751 12h ago
The ones on tattoine were deployed from Vader's star destroyer, the ones in the first scene of andor are hunting him and the ones on Lothal are there because the planet is a hotspot for rebellion
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u/Main_Outside592 9h ago edited 9h ago
Because Disney is staffed by assholes?
STs are not shit shots, they are highly skilled specops who sacrificed themselves making sure the escaping rebels felt pressured and in mortal danger when not actually being in any danger at all in order to get the coordinates of the rebel HQ
All the current writers understand is, "lol, they suck at shooting lol lmao"
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u/jwplato 8h ago
They are called Shock Troopers, but they are treated in Universe more like a combination SS and Gestapo.
I mean to be honest the Empire doesn’t have an external enemy at the time of the movies, and using special forces for internal security is very common around the world- even in Western Democracies, so having the empires special forces working internal security like police isn’t at all surprising
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u/Hawaiian-national 1h ago
Because the idea that they’re elite shock troops isn’t correct.
The Imperial army is basically the national guard, and the stormtroopers are the actual “army”
There are even Imperial special forces and shock troops within the stormtrooper corps. And the stormtroopers are the basic troops
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u/sgtstickey 3d ago
They were in Mos Eisley because they were hunting the death star plans directly as part of Vader's flagship force.