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Imperial Stormtroopers are highly trained shock troops in the fictional Star Wars universe. Stormtroopers are used as strike units against enemies of the Galactic Empire.
These highly-disciplined soldiers answer directly to the Emperor. Stormtroopers are independent of the Imperial Navy or the Imperial Army chains of command, as they have their own command structure, ranking system and support facilities. However, a Company Commander can give command to any regular officer over any given squad or platoon. The Stormtroopers are the Empires equivalent Marines. Their organization manners are similar to those of the Imperial Army. The basic unit of organization is the squad.
Each stormtrooper is assigned a number for tactical purposes, and (arguably) to reinforce the Imperial ethic of uniformity. (For instance, TIE Fighter pilots are not attached to any particular craft, as opposed to the common practice of pilots adorning their ships with personalized markings.)
Although many movies feature faceless minions who seem unable to successfully hit desginated heroes in movies, this is one of the most recollected feature of the group amongst some movie fans. Thus when used in slang, "shoots like a stormtrooper" implies one is actually a poor shot.
History
The first stormtroopers were introduced in 22 BBY. Then called Republic clone troopers, they were clones of bounty hunter Jango Fett. With Fett's death at Geonosis, clone stock had to be taken from other sources. By the time of the Battle of Yavin, Fett's progeny were heavily supplemented with troopers recruited in the traditional way. When the New Republic defeated the Empire years after the end of the Galactic Civil War and took over the machinery of galactic government, they terminated the stormtrooper program, though the Imperial Remnant continued to use stormtroopers in battle until a peace treaty was signed some years after. Following the treaty, stormtroopers became little more than guards and police officers on Remnant worlds.
Officers
In non-combat situations, a stormtrooper officer wears a dark uniform, insignia, and a cap. All stormtrooper officers are also stormtroopers, and wears the characteristic white armor along with everyone else. At the Imperial Academy at Carida, they learn an old game called Quadrant, which is a tactical visualization game and troopers on duty are allowed to play this game (they usually do) to pass off time when not endangered or in a tense situation. After months at Carida, a Stormtrooper cadet is paired with a veteran trooper for quicker learning in action.
Equipment
Their most distinctive equipment is the white battle armour they normally wear. The complete set completely encases the body and typically has no individually distinguishing marking outside of rank. In fact, to a casual observer seeing them for the first time, they have been sometimes mistaken as a form of battle droid. In certain situations however, storm troopers will sometimes wear camouflage armor to help them blend in with different environments. The storm trooper corps instituted this reform after the embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Endor where they were defeated by a combined Rebel / Ewok attack force.
The very reinforced helmet contains Advanced Breathing Filters (which acts as protection against chemical and biological attacks, as well as toxins), Comlink for instant communication with other units, which also has options to change the frequency. The comlink uses linked encoding sequences to change frequencies every few seconds while keeping all troopers in the unit synchronized. If a trooper's helmet is removed without the trooper first hitting the comlink's control stud, the frequency coding routine is automatically deleted from that helmet.
The automatic polarizing lenses protect the trooper against intense glare and provide them with enhanced combat vision or "Holographic Vision Processors" (which allows vision through many barriers such as smoke, darkness and fire). Multi-Frequency Targeting and Acquisition System (MFTAS) helps with the stormtroopers' perception in darkness as well as smoke and other visibility obscuring conditions.
It also assists in aiming at moving targets. The Comtech Series IV helmet speaker uses three-phase sonic filtering for clear sound (For troopers, it is connected to the audio pickup). Also it has a vocoder for talking to non-Stormtroopers.The backplate contains an emergency 20 minutes of oxygen if the trooper is should be so unlucky to be exposed to vacuum or if he is trapped underwater. It also contains a power pack. The stomach armour contains Manual Suit Seal and environmental controls. The thigh armour has a reinforced alloy plate ridge and the lower right side, near the knee contains the suits system power cells The left upper side of the shin armour has a sniper position knee protector plate. The utility belt has two Blast Energy Sinks to protect the trooper's hips. The stormtroopers boots are not armoured, but they are gripped. The armour is equipped with IFF circuitry for identification and command purposes for identifying each other.
It also protects the troopers from very harsh environments as well as projectiles and impact weapons. The armour might be penetrated by a direct blaster bolt, but it will reduce damage from the bolts absorbed significantly. The body glove allows for operation in warm or cold climates, however it can protect the trooper from almost any environment -- from total vacuum conditions to the very extremes in cold and heat for a very limited period of time.
Firearms
The E-11 can be found almost anywhere. It is the standard issue weapon of the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps and one of the most common issued rifles in the Galactic Empire. They are also in high demand (although heavily regulated) for civilian and corporate sales, along with a brisk trade in them on the underground market.
It has proven to be a highly versatile design, spawning a wide number of variations. To make up for the high demand for these weapons, BlasTech has authorized SoroSuub and Merr-Sonn to manufacture them under licence. These three manufacturers are found mixed indiscriminately across the Galactic Empire in Imperial stocks. In addition to these, several specialized designs have been spawned.
The basic E-11 is 43.8cm long (folded), and weighs 2.6 kilograms. The powercell housing opens on the left side of the action housing, above the trigger, giving the E11 a very low profile (useful when shooting prone or from a barracade), with a standerd powercell providing 100 shots. The blaster gas chamber contains sufficient supplies for thirty powercells. All moving and/or metal parts are fitted with a corrosion-proof, vacuum-rated, dry lubricant. The top of the receiver has a universal, quick detach sight rail, which comes from the factory mounted with a light, ring recticle, 2x optical scope. The basic, three piece folding stock rides along the left side, under the powercell. When ordering from the factory, one may specify that they wish a fixed stock or a one-piece, right-folding stock at no extra cost.
Some special features include a wrist comlink, a tiny battle Holocam built into the helmet, a Proper Resonator (To open secure doors) built into their armour, or an external helmet light. They can also have a Glow Rod attached to their blaster rifle, or using a Glow Rod Staff to provide the extra light. Power Gloves helps in hand to hand combat.
Specialized Stormtroopers
There are also many kinds of specialized stormtroopers that allow them to perform hazardous duty. Snowtroopers, or Blizzard Force troopers, storm through icy corridors and are protected against the chilly surface of such places as the ice planet Hoth. They have standard blasters and also use light-repeaters mounted on tripods. They have a ghost-like mask instead of the standard helmet.
Blackhole troopers were assigned to the Imperial Intelligence agent Blackhole. They featured black stygian-polymer coated armor that would "baffle" sensor readings. Minetroopers were encased in a tan coloured suit that protected them from the toxic mine atmosphere of the spice mining world Sevacos. Other types include aquatic troopers, scout-troopers, desert troopers, radiation troopers (radtroopers), airtroopers, spacetroopers, Dark Troopers, Coruscant Guards, Hazard Troopers, Storm Commandos, tunneling underminers and magma troopers.
The best stormtroopers are recruited into the Emperor's Royal Guard. Briefly seen in Return of the Jedi, Royal Guards wear red helmets of a different style and flowing red robes concealing body armor. Their most visible weapons are the force pikes they carry on duty.
The appearance of the clone troopers in Attack of the Clones and their similarity to storm troopers raise the possiblity that many stormtroopers are cloned. This idea is raised in issues 1-4 of the Star Wars: Empire comics when a squad of clones is reprogrammed to make an attempt on the Emperor's life. Nevertheless, movie evidence depicting Stormtroopers with different heights and voices seems to debunk the clone theory for the most part.
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