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From: chen@mitre-gateway.arpa
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Stormtroopers (Armor & Weapons)
Message-ID: <3596@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Tue, 10-Sep-85 09:58:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.3596
Posted: Tue Sep 10 09:58:58 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Sep-85 01:14:40 EDT
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Ray Chen (MS W420) <chen@mitre-gateway.arpa>

Personally, I the stormtrooper armor makes a fair amount of sense once
you consider what stormtroopers might have been meant to do.

I think that stormtroopers are combination ship, space station,
and garrison troops.

Stormtroopers seem suited (if you'll pardon the pun) for
corridor fighting and storming space ships, space stations,
or fortresses is basically corridor fighting.

Sure, the armor can't stop a direct hit from a high-powered hand
blaster or blaster rifle, but it'll help a lot in space-oriented
and garrison/defensive fighting.

The armor will stop things like small metal shards or
light splashes of molten metal which result when a blaster
bolt hits two feet from your head.  It should stop fists
and your standard battle cutlery (although I wonder how
it's do against a claymore).  I think it'd also stop
deflections off walls and things.  In addition, the communications
facilities in the helmet provide everybody with the means
to talk to each other without having to scream over the sound
of the fighting.

Look at the weapons.  Blasters are good medium-distance weapons.
As someone already indicated, though, a lightsabre is probably better
than a blaster in hand-to-hand combat.  The standard, stormtrooper
weapons seems to be geared towards standing off at 20 feet or so,
and shooting at each other.  This makes a lot of sense, though, because
in corridor fighting, facing blasters, unless you're a Jedi knight
(or insanely lucky), hand-to-hand fighting isn't possible because
in order to get within range, you've got to charge down 20 feet
of straight corridor with no cover against an enemy who has blasters.
I think you can also see why Imperial stormtroopers don't carry
grenades.  Detonating grenades on board a ship can be a very
dangerous proposition for all concerned.

The main disadvantage of the armor, as far as I can see, is that
the silly thing is white, a little clumsy, and restricts your vision.
The color doesn't really matter in close-corridor fighting and white
is actually a pretty good color under those circumstances anyway as
a lot of walls will tend to be painted a light color.  If you're not
planning on running the 100m dash, doing acrobatics, or getting into
hand-to-hand combat, you can live with being a little clumsy.
Restricted vision (e.g. no peripheral vision) doesn't really matter
in corridors either.  All in all, I think the armor makes for a good set
of trade-offs.

I think the idea of stormtroopers as indoor/corridor fighters
makes a lot of sense.  A high tech, space-faring empire needs
indoor fighters.  Ground and airborne assault troops will still
have their place, but when the chips are down and the enemy is
standing firm in a city, you send in the stormtroopers to dig
them out house by house.

This also explains why stormtroopers are so feared.  They,
by temperment and training, are so mean (and stupid, probably)
that they'll stand off at 20 feet in close quarters and trade
blaster shots until somebody backs down.  Most infantry hate
indoor assaults as the terrain gives the defender a huge advantage.
Stormtroopers, though, are the exception.

Now, I know somebody's going to ask, "Well, why are there so many
stormtroopers?  It seems like all we see are stormtroopers."

Answer:  Navy ships-of-the-line carry more stormtroopers than any
other type of infantry.  Since the situations we've seen are
situations where the Navy comes sailing in with Destroyers to
do something, of course, most of the troops you'll see should
be stormtroopers.

So, enough already about stormtrooper armor.  I think the
armor makes a lot of sense once you consider exactly what
kind of fighing stormtroopers might be geared to do.

	Ray Chen
	chen@mitre-gw