Questions about Separatists

[Battlehymn Republic]

1. Did they have any substantial non-droid military forces? Even a planetary army, like the wookies the Republic had, would qualify.

2. Who had central control of the droids? Was it Grievous? Is that why Grievous's death was so significant, besides his commanding skills?

3. If not, then how did the Republic/Empire shut down all of the droids?

4. Who were the military leaders left after Grievous's death? Were any capable? They could be second and third-in-commands, lieutenants, favored successors, etc.

5. For a bunch of corporate types, the CIS didn't seem to exercise much economic power, besides building lots of droids. Did they do anything else, like hire mercenary armies? Why not?

6. By Grievous's death, was the CIS all but finished? What was left of it?

[Techno_Union]

1. Did they have any substantial non-droid military forces? Even a planetary army, like the wookies the Republic had, would qualify.

They did have "organic troops" that took the form of Neimoidians and a few other species that I can't recall. Though they weren't anywhere as numerous as the Clones of the Republic.

2. Who had central control of the droids? Was it Grievous? Is that why Grievous's death was so significant, besides his commanding skills?

As far as I know, Grievous had full control of the droid army.

3. If not, then how did the Republic/Empire shut down all of the droids?

The Separatist Council shut down the droids when Anakin told them to.

4. Who were the military leaders left after Grievous's death? Were any capable? They could be second and third-in-commands, lieutenants, favored successors, etc.

As far as I know, it was just the Separatist leaders left (i.e. Nute Gunry, etc).

5. For a bunch of corporate types, the CIS didn't seem to exercise much economic power, besides building lots of droids. Did they do anything else, like hire mercenary armies? Why not?

What do you mean by "didn't seem to exercise much economic power"?

6. By Grievous's death, was the CIS all but finished? What was left of it?

The CIS was doomed from the start -- but after his death, yes, they were pretty much done.

[Noble Ire]

1. Did they have any substantial non-droid military forces? Even a planetary army, like the wookies the Republic had, would qualify.

In one of the SW Insider editions of CIS Shadowfeed, organic forces on several planets are mentioned.

2. Who had central control of the droids? Was it Grievous? Is that why Grievous's death was so significant, besides his commanding skills?

Grievous was the supreme commander of the CIS Military.

3. If not, then how did the Republic/Empire shut down all of the droids?

There was evidently a override control in the High Council fortress on Mustafar. After he kills the council, Anakin is instructed by Palpatine to shut down the droid armies using it.

4. Who were the military leaders left after Grievous's death? Were any capable? They could be second and third-in-commands, lieutenants, favored successors, etc.

I would imagine a few planets had their own dedicated droid armies, although I'm unfamiliar with any remaining significant officaials.

5. For a bunch of corporate types, the CIS didn't seem to exercise much economic power, besides building lots of droids. Did they do anything else, like hire mercenary armies? Why not?

Most of the Jedi killers the CIS used were Mercinaries of a sort (Durge, Jango, Aurra Sing, etc.) The CIS members gained weath from plundering captured worlds for resources, which they used to build droids and defenses, and perhaps add to their own coffers.

6. By Grievous's death, was the CIS all but finished? What was left of it?

Scattered, leaderless worlds, with only minimal operational armies and fleets. No real threat.

[Kenoshi]

3. If not, then how did the Republic/Empire shut down all of the droids?

There was evidently a override control in the High Council fortress on Mustafar. After he kills the council, Anakin is instructed by Palpatine to shut down the droid armies using it.

Interesting how that got changed. As I recall from the novelization, (and the graphic novel as well) Darth Sidious ordered the Seperatist leaders to shut down the droid army before Vader murderized them all. Makes sense that way, since there was an actual reason for Grevious to keep moving them around. They alone have the codes to remotely shut down the droids and had to be kept alive until the Jedi order had been smashed and the Republic was firmly under Sidious' control.

I'm curious why they decided to change that little detail during the filming.

[VT-16]

1. Did they have any substantial non-droid military forces? Even a planetary army, like the wookies the Republic had, would qualify.

In addition to the above, there was the Quarren Isolation League on Mon Calamari (which had the capability to construct massive, mobile artillery walkers).

6. By Grievous's death, was the CIS all but finished? What was left of it?

Since Palpatine will come to use remaining Separatist holdouts and Rebel uprisings as valid reasons for keeping a large military in the future (as per the ROTS VD or ICS), I reckon there´s still alot of systems/factions around to keep the Empire busy. Even though it will never match the capabilities of the united Confederacy.

[Lord Revan]

the ROTS VD says that dwarf spider droids were used by the Empire to destroy some remaining CIS enclaves, so that suggests that some CIS forces did survive.

[Axis Kast]

Did they have any substantial non-droid military forces? Even a planetary army, like the wookies the Republic had, would qualify.

Yes. The best on-screen example of this would be the Geonosians, although several other worlds featured in the comic books did possess organic armies.

For a bunch of corporate types, the CIS didn't seem to exercise much economic power, besides building lots of droids. Did they do anything else, like hire mercenary armies? Why not?

Presumably, the initial tremors were felt in the immediate aftermath of Attack of the Clones, although you are correct in that we did not see any overt indication of massive economic chaos in the brief views we got of Coruscant. Clearly, the Republic had a parallel financial and industrial infrastructure capable of taking over where the Banking Guild and other such entities left off.

In terms of mercenaries, aside from bounty hunters, they hired a Mandalorian and several of the grunts usually associated with Hutts in Hard Contact. Presumably, a number of worlds also offered their own forces. According to the ICS book for the third movie, many Seperatist spaceships were actually the property of associated planets, not the genuine output of a single, centralized power.

[Techno_Union]

Interesting how that got changed. As I recall from the novelization, (and the graphic novel as well) Darth Sidious ordered the Seperatist leaders to shut down the droid army before Vader murderized them all. Makes sense that way, since there was an actual reason for Grevious to keep moving them around. They alone have the codes to remotely shut down the droids and had to be kept alive until the Jedi order had been smashed and the Republic was firmly under Sidious' control.

I'm curious why they decided to change that little detail during the filming.

Actually, that's what I seem to recall from the film as well -- Sidious ordering them to deactivate their armies. Though it has been a while since I have seen ROTS.

[Noble Ire]

Actually, that's what I seem to recall from the film as well -- Sidious ordering them to deactivate their armies. Though it has been a while since I have seen ROTS.

No, he instructs Anakin to do so after the Council has been eliminated. Palpatine tells them "My apprentice will join you shortly. H bears further instructions." or something like that.

[Crazedwraith]

The Medstar Books indicates the VCIS hired numerous Mercinaries.

[Techno_Union]

Actually, that's what I seem to recall from the film as well -- Sidious ordering them to deactivate their armies. Though it has been a while since I have seen ROTS.

No, he instructs Anakin to do so after the Council has been eliminated. Palpatine tells them "My apprentice will join you shortly. H bears further instructions." or something like that.

Then I stand corrected.

EDIT: Though I believe Sidious says that Vader will "take care of you." At least that's what the graphic novel says.