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On the Sandtrooper armor, what's that brown thing that's draped over the shoulder?

I think the orange pauldron has to do with rank. I'm not exactly sure.

That cand be right. IIRC, all the sandtroopers had them.

For some odd reason, I like the Sandtrooper armor because of that brown thing. That, and that one redesigned the scene that shows that one sandie riding that green things back.

Could be an thermal ID panel, similar to those carried around on the backs of US tanks. There's a type of tape now used on the back of infantry helmets that does the same thing.

The consensus has been that the primary function is a rank indicator. For the record, not all of them wore orange ones...the movie depicted orange, white, and black. EU includes grey, yellow, and red.

Saxton has a page investigating the pauldrons here.

As far as I remember the orange color comes with the rank, sergeant.

I always figured that they were like the orange vests that some traffic cops wear or that kind of thing.. just to make them a little easier to identify as somebody you're supposed to pay attention to (however that doesn't explain the other ones).

Then I played Jedi Knight, and realized that yellow means you get to carry a Rail Detonator. ; )

Kurgan wrote:I always figured that they were like the orange vests that some traffic cops wear or that kind of thing.. just to make them a little easier to identify as somebody you're supposed to pay attention to (however that doesn't explain the other ones).

Then I played Jedi Knight, and realized that yellow means you get to carry a Rail Detonator. ; )

LOL

I don't think we can base our infos on JK.

Then red pauldrons comes with a repeater?!

...and green pauldron means that your comrade ate something heavy last night and the "result" is on your shoulder...

I don't think we can base our infos on JK.

[sarcasm]What are YOU smokin'? The games are the highest canon! [/sarcasm]

..and green pauldron means that your comrade ate something heavy last night and the "result" is on your shoulder...

Or he had a white pauldron and put it through the wash with his green socks by mistake.

Excuse (or execute ) me, but I disagree. When stormtroopers were in guard of honour on DS II they did not wear large visible rank insignias. I think primary function of the pauldron is linked to the desert environment and acting as a rank insignia is only secondary. However it is still possible that the stormtroopers' normal identification system does not work under extreme conditions like on desert or on snow worlds.

vakundok wrote:Excuse (or execute ) me, but I disagree. When stormtroopers were in guard of honour on DS II they did not wear large visible rank insignias. I think primary function of the pauldron is linked to the desert environment and acting as a rank insignia is only secondary. However it is still possible that the stormtroopers' normal identification system does not work under extreme conditions like on desert or on snow worlds.

The biggest difference between the military installation stormies and the Sandtrooper stormies was that the Sandtroopers were in a city, interacting with civilians. The pauldron could be used to help the civilians distinguish between the ranks.
Again, see Saxton's examination of the pauldron.

And if they aren't primarily used for rank designation, then what desert environment function would they play?

Robert Treder wrote:The biggest difference between the military installation stormies and the Sandtrooper stormies was that the Sandtroopers were in a city, interacting with civilians. The pauldron could be used to help the civilians distinguish between the ranks.
Again, see Saxton's examination of the pauldron.

And if they aren't primarily used for rank designation, then what desert environment function would they play?

It makes sense. But on Bespin they were deployed in a civilian city without pauldrons weren't they?

I do not know I am not an expert of desert equipment. Heat sink or vaporization surface ...

Robert Treder wrote:

vakundok wrote:Excuse (or execute ) me, but I disagree. When stormtroopers were in guard of honour on DS II they did not wear large visible rank insignias. I think primary function of the pauldron is linked to the desert environment and acting as a rank insignia is only secondary. However it is still possible that the stormtroopers' normal identification system does not work under extreme conditions like on desert or on snow worlds.

The biggest difference between the military installation stormies and the Sandtrooper stormies was that the Sandtroopers were in a city, interacting with civilians. The pauldron could be used to help the civilians distinguish between the ranks.
Again, see Saxton's examination of the pauldron.

And if they aren't primarily used for rank designation, then what desert environment function would they play?

One possibility is the following:

Desert combat, especially using stormtrooper helmet sensors and the assorted heavy blaster rifles many of the sandtroopers carried, is likely to be a long range affair. At the multi-kilometer ranges the sandtroopers are almost certainly capable of achieving, normal rank markings of whatever type stormtroopers ordinarily use would be difficult to see (or would force a trooper to concentrate his visual enhancement systems on an allied trooper for a second or more, time better sent scanning for and engaging enemies). A high visibility rank flash like the pauldron would be a good thing under those circumstances.

In actual military combat, as opposed to combat against ill-equipped civilians and hostile aborigines, camouflage at visual ranges would be of little use. Being able to quickly determine who's friendly and who isn't, and then shooting the unfriendlies to pieces quickly and precisely would be more useful.