Stormtrooper armor

[Vympel]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my knowledge of the games you're talking about different things...

Darktroopers are either:

[Dark Forces]
1) Phase 1: A droid soldier with blade arm and blast shield gauntlet.
2) Phase 2: A droid soldier in a suit of powered armor with jetpack (and the suit can also be worn by a living humanoid soldier) and hand held assault cannon.
3) Phase 3: Same as above but stronger armor and seeker rocket cannon.

No, the Phase 3 holds humans- it's what Mohc fought you in as the end boss- it has rocket launchers in the shoulder pauldrons.

[Darwin]

Btw, anyone got more info on the Abrams driver who got taken out by small arms fire? Was his hatch open, or did the shot somehow hit his optics or something?

The news link was posted in the N&P forum but it was a really long time ago. It might have even been last year. The driver had his hatch open; the practical reality of driving around in a hot Persian summer in a tank presumably made him choose to do this. But there was another freaky kill involving some kind of rifle round that hit some very weak point in the armour and went right into the interior compartment. That was linked in the N&P forum too.

Well, most variants of the Abrams are air-conditioned. Typically a driver will not be buttoned up unless rolling into combat though, simply because it's so much easier to drive unbuttooned vs using those vision blocks, and it's one more pair of Mk1's to spot trouble.

[nickolay1]

The phase two darktrooper armor holds a human as well. One can play as them in the game Battlefront II.

[Noble Ire]

No, the Phase 3 holds humans- it's what Mohc fought you in as the end boss- it has rocket launchers in the shoulder pauldrons.

Of course, only one of them was ever constructed, and it looks nothing like BF Dark Troopers, at least in terms of scale. Though I can't really back it up, I've always assumed that BF troopers aren't Dark Troopers at all, just Stormies in armor that shares design principles with the trooper project.

[Publius]

Unfortunately, the Expanded Universe has been a touch careless with the Darktrooper/Dark Trooper label. The Darktroopers from Dark Empire II are "specially trained stormtroopers, empowered with the dark side of the Force," and the comic itself is somewhat inconsistent with their appearance. They're usually shown to wear what looks like a black version of the standard T.I.E. Armored Spacesuit – that is the name for the normal stormtrooper's armor according to the obscure "Soldiers of the Empire" poster – , although a few panels seem to show them in the more familiar white armor. Aside from Dark Empire II, these Darktroopers appeared in Rebellion, set a good ten years earlier, in which they were seen to be wearing what looks like a modified version of Phase III Dark Trooper exoarmor. The Phase III exoarmor, of course, was the final 'boss' of Dark Forces, a powered exosuit about 2.5 meters tall (a rough estimate based on The Essential Guide to Droids), of which allegedly only one was made. Even the Rebellion Era Sourcebook allows, however, that the Dark Trooper Project may have been subsequently resurrected after the destruction of the Arc Hammer by some Moff.

The Dark Trooper dragoons from Battlefront, in contrast, wear somewhat different suits of armor, a little bulkier than the regular T.I.E. Armored Spacesuit and light gray in color, with a gray shoulder pauldron and a rocket pack. It is possible that the dark side Darktroopers of DE2 are in fact drawn from the ranks of the dragoon Dark Troopers of BF, which would have the happy effect of explaining the otherwise obnoxious similarity of names, and would also coincidentally explain their poor performance in Dark Empire II, as they would be accustomed to fighting with the mobility afforded by their jetpacks and presumably were used as skirmishers, whereas in Dark Empire II they were deployed as infantry (on the other hand, being deployed against Luke Skywalker, the only living being in the galaxy to have cleanly and unarguably defeated Darth Sidious in a lightsaber duel probably did not help their case, either).

[Darwin]

Also, Jedi Academy has airborne Stormtroopers that are clearly derived from the Dark Trooper project.. painted standard Stormtrooper white, of course.

I figure the Dark Forces Dark Troopers were simply prototypes.. The grey suits on Battlefront2 and the white suits (armed with a simple imperial Repeater) on JA were a final production version.

[Cykeisme]

Those troopers in Jedi Academy were simply referred to as "Rocket Troopers", I think.. but in SoD, yeah, the design of their armor and equipment is almost certainly related to the Dark Trooper project in the game Dark Forces.

Also, I'm fairly certain that I've read that the Phase III DT armor could be deployed as either a battle droid or an exosuit variant. Will try looking for a source.
I agree it doesn't make sense that the Empire would think of going back to battle droids when they'd only just found clones to be superior during the Clone Wars. Of course, Dark Forces came out ages before AotC. If the ultimate product of the program was an exosuit, it would be a bit of a retcon I guess, but it would fit in much better with the prequel movies.. so I'd go with that.


Referring to Publius' description of the "Darktroopers" from Dark Empire II (which I'm not familiar with).. black armored version of a TIE pilot's suit.. they'd probably look a lot like Admiral Galak Fyyar's Shadowtroopers, visually. Of course, Shadowtroopers were Desann's Reborn, that drank from the Valley of the Jedi.. and their black armor was lightsaber resistant.
All very interesting, nevertheless


Btw, I'd lean toward the idea that the Dark Troopers in Battlefront are humans wearing exosuits. Still, I'm wondering.. has anyone noticed whether or not the DTs in BF cry out in pain when hurt or killed?

[Vympel]

Which issue of Dark Empire II is it?

[Kurgan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my knowledge of the games you're talking about different things...

Darktroopers are either:

[Dark Forces]
1) Phase 1: A droid soldier with blade arm and blast shield gauntlet.
2) Phase 2: A droid soldier in a suit of powered armor with jetpack (and the suit can also be worn by a living humanoid soldier) and hand held assault cannon.
3) Phase 3: Same as above but stronger armor and seeker rocket cannon.

No, the Phase 3 holds humans- it's what Mohc fought you in as the end boss- it has rocket launchers in the shoulder pauldrons.

I can't believe I forgot to say that! Yes, the 2 and 3 is really just a powered shell that could house a human or a droid, and in the game it's the fat dude (it had been a long time since he'd fought a man in battle!). Thanks for the correction...

[Kurgan]

Those troopers in Jedi Academy were simply referred to as "Rocket Troopers", I think.. but in SoD, yeah, the design of their armor and equipment is almost certainly related to the Dark Trooper project in the game Dark Forces.

Hazard Troopers and Rocket Trooper 2's (the Rocket Trooper 1's were just like your regular "Sandtrooper" type guy with a Merr Sonn in hand).. very different. One looks more like a guy in just bulkier armor and a jetpack, the other guy actually in a massively oversized powered suit (must be, to get around!). The Hazard Trooper is reminiscent of the space trooper, but he fought on land (and could wade through lava!).

Also those Jet Troopers (Rocket Trooper 2) were painted gray in the game. The Hazard Troopers were more metallic in appearance. Sort of a bronze.

Of course, Shadowtroopers were Desann's Reborn, that drank from the Valley of the Jedi.. and their black armor was lightsaber resistant.
All very interesting, nevertheless

Yep. The EU is obsessed with Stormtrooper variants and black armor.
It's a bit wanky, but fun.

Btw, I'd lean toward the idea that the Dark Troopers in Battlefront are humans wearing exosuits. Still, I'm wondering.. has anyone noticed whether or not the DTs in BF cry out in pain when hurt or killed?

Considering my voice files don't even play in the full (did in beta) I couldn't tell you. I'm 100% positive though that they are just humans. Their armor really doesn't stand out as needing to be powered since it's only slightly altered from the regular trooper outfit and different colored (like a Swamp Trooper from JK2/JA).

The Battlefront series isn't known for its accuracy to anything Star Wars that's come before. They play pretty fast and loose with the stuff, to the chagrin of many nitpicking fans!

[Kurgan]

Which issue of Dark Empire II is it?

Don't recall. There were some black suited stormtroopers in Crimson Empire (or was it Crimson Empire II?).