Stormtroopers, Mandalorians and the Fett Family

[Amnestic]

So having recently replayed the two KotOR games, as well as the demo for the upcoming Force Unleashed game, got a quick question to anyone who knows slightly more about Star Wars than me. During the events of KotOR 1+2, you hear from countless sources that Mandalorians are the best of the best. They were the Spartans of Star Wars, for lack of a better descriptor. They burned countless planets and it was only thanks to Revan that the Mandalorian crusades were pushed back.

Fast forward umpteen years to the 'prequel' Star Wars films. Jango Fett is a Mandalorian, as far as I can tell. He's also fairly good at combat although he did get sufficiently owned by Mace Windu, Boba Fett similarly, is fairly able though if I recall they both make the mistake of using blasters against a Jedi. HK-47 would be disappointed. Now the clone troopers were born from Jango Fett's cells, and these eventually became Stormtroopers of the Empire. So my question is: Why are forces born from the identical genetic material of a Mandalorian so wank in combat? Is it simply for dramatic effect? Cos in general, it seems a Stormtrooper would be lucky to hit the broad side of a Star Destroyer from ten feet away. =/

 

[CalamusGary]

As far as I can recall I think it's the difference in training. Mandalorians are trained from a very young age to a much better standard than the holograms and computer teaching of the clones. The training of the clones and the inherent program removes individual thaught and creativity making them only slightly superior to droids.

Thats why the Commando and ARC storm troopers were so highly regarded, their training was better and put emphasis on individuality.

 

[Tomdoodle]

I think that it said somewhere that most Clone troopers had various parts of Jango's DNA or memory removed, so that they wouldn't be too individual or dangerous.

Also, Storm Troopers are not just Clones of Fett, there are other clone groups and individuals in that army as well, I think.

Admittedly, all that is based on Battlefront and Republic Commando loading screens.

 

[Narcindin]

(Some Star Wars book spoilers) Well, according to many if not all of the books that were written before Lucas started making the prequels. Many if not all the Storm Troopers are not clones. It In the Thrawn Trilogy, it is mentioned how the art of cloning is lost, and the many downsides of cloning when some cloning tanks are shown. Also you meet numerous Storm Troopers in person, who are not clones, and there is another incident Kyp Duron goes to a training planet, where his decisively non clone brother was. Please correct me if I am wrong.

In short, basically all the ABY (after battle Yavin) books disagree with the prequals, and I like to follow the books instead.

 

[danielabens]

yeah, Actually the Stormtroopers weren't clones. I thought they were there for a while but then i read a book called "Death Star" and the Stormtroopers were actually men hired/drafted by the Empire. Although I'm not sure what happened to the clones after the events in episode III.

 

[CalamusGary]

Different sources conflict each other. Acording to star wars battlefront 2 some stormtroopers are clones. I think alot of the clones that died couldnt be replaced and so stormtroopers are a mix of clones and regular joes.

 

[Amnestic]

Ah. That would make sense. I was going with the Clone Troopers=Storm Troopers because of the campaign from Battlefront 2, where your 51st(I think) clone battalion becomes the 'right arm' of Vader as storm troopers. I wasn't aware that they stopped cloning after a point and started just recruiting any old guy. Fair enough. Thanks guys ;D

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

I don't think the storm troopers ever were clones, as in I don't think the emperor would be sufficiently satisfied manipulating something so soulless. He would much rather have had parents losing children and children losing fathers.

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

Jango was from Concorde Dawn but trained by mandalorians, hence the armour. Boba allegedly has a collection of lightsabers at some point and duels with Vader before he gets himself zapped. he also trained Han and Leia's daughter to 'take down a Jedi', so he can clearly kick some ass.

Stormtroopers are recruits more than clones, i think.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Ah. That would make sense. I was going with the Clone Troopers=Storm Troopers because of the campaign from Battlefront 2, where your 51st(I think) clone battalion becomes the 'right arm' of Vader as storm troopers. I wasn't aware that they stopped cloning after a point and started just recruiting any old guy. Fair enough. Thanks guys ;D

You forget the mission where they go to the cloning labs and destroy them because rebels were using the clonetroopers against them?

 

[Amnestic]

You forget the mission where they go to the cloning labs and destroy them because rebels were using the clonetroopers against them?

>_> Yes. But equally you'd think they'd have that technology on hand on a world which wasn't made entirely of water. Some sort of heavily fortified world where the rebels couldn't waltz in and take it as their own, you know? =/ Whatever happened to backups?

 

[Bobkat1252]

They're clones, thats what makes the difference, the first batch was Mandalorian trained, thats why they were good. By the time of the 4th movie they're probably on their 3rd or 4th batch which was not Mandalorian trained. Also by that point, normal humans could join the stromtrooper ranks.

 

[TheGhostOfSin]

Well think about it it's a galaxy spaning empire, how many troops does it have? It's just more practical to hire. Also I'd imagine cloning is expensive.

 

[Ripshot]

Well maybe after cloning a Mandalorian, the troops would be good, but then you have to take the DNA of the clone, then continue taking previous DNA or the DNA of hired men to make more troops, and you might have a decrease in ability.

And maybe the amount of training had something to do with it.
Though my guess is just for effect, having a hyper-intelligent super-skilled force of billions would make any rebellion (even if they have a jedi and Harrison Ford) a pleasant afternoon drive through Tatooine.

 

[Kalekemo]

That's what happens when you re-clone the same person a bajillion times...
It dilutes the DNA

 

[Logan Keller]

Well, according to Wookiepedia, Mandalorians are actually a nomadic clan, not a species. Humans, Rodians, Toydarians, etc, they can all be trained as Mandalorians. Their skill in battle doesn't come from some inate genetic ability, it comes from the years of harsh training recruits are subjected to. Jango Fett, for instance, is a Mandalorian in the sense that he was raised from a young age by other Mandalorians. That's how he gained his uber-fighting skills. In the same way the Spartans were a fighting force, not a species, so were the Mandalorians.

What this means is that there's no reason why the Clone Troopers should have any of the fighting skill of the Mandalorians. You can't genetically transfer training, especially not the rigorous sort the followers of Mandalore use. The clones weren't trained by people like Canderous in the ways of Mandalore. They were trained by the cloners on Kamino. This makes them about as Mandalorian as Jabba the Hutt.

Yeah, I'm not a geek at all...

Well you learn something new every day... Now the never-ending problem of which info is canon versus novel-author made up? I'd bet on Jeffers' theory because I've heard something like it before.

But don't write off Jabba as being unsuited for Mandalore training. He knows the long lost martial art of Fat-Fu.

Originally the Mandalorians were a species but they started taking other species about a decade or so before KOTOR but this was when the species was originally called the Taung and took the name after the planet Mandalore which they nicely named after their leader.