The Dark Troopers were a set of extremely advanced battle droids which utilized incredibly
strong exoskeletons and were protected by heavy plating that resembled the standard armor of a
stormtrooper. These Dark troopers carried very powerful weapons and even jump packs,
which allowed them to leap high into the air with ease. So with the Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 4
confirming that Moff Gideon is creating an army of Dark Trooper soldiers, I’m going to break down
exactly what the Dark Troopers are and every single variant of them that we currently know.
So before we get into it,
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The Dark Trooper Project was created during the time of the Empire, by highly esteemed General Rom
Mohc. During the Clone wars, Rom Mohc served in the Galactic Republic army as a non-clone officer,
and while there he began to develop an obsession with cybernetics and hand to hand combat.
Because of his love for hand to hand combat and respect for discipline, he absolutely despised
superweapons like the Death Star, and instead began to work on on a project that would later
be known as the Dark Trooper Project, inside of his customized starship, called the ARC Hammer.
This project actually had four main phases, so I’ll break them all down.
Phase zero of the project began, when Mohc put his cybernetics skills to use,
turning veteran clones from the Clone Wars into gruesome and horrible cyborgs,
with their bodies mangled and disfigured into the perfect,
cybernetically enhanced soldiers. This part of the Imperial Dark Trooper project wasn’t officially
authorised our funded by Imperial leadership and therefore known as the Phase Zero dark troopers.
Phase Zero was the first and last phase of the project to use biological life forms.
As the empire began to phase the Clone Troopers out the ranks of the imperial army not long
after the Clone Wars, Phase Zero Dark Troopers began to become far less common, and the entire
project was eventually shut down. Despite no new Phase zero dark troopers being created, many of
them still served in the Imperial army, and it became pretty clear to Imperial leadership that
the efficiency of these soldiers was a step above anything the Rebel alliance could come up against.
The Phase Zero soldiers were usually equipped with a simple blast cannons or Modified
E-11 blaster rifles known as ARC Casters. On top of this, they used a SE-14r light repeating
blaster as a side arm, and carried a large supply of thermal detonators with them also.
Eventually, the Phase Zero troopers continued to be used on the battlefields
all the way until shortly before the Battle of Yavin.
Some years later, the Dark Trooper project was finally greenlit and funded by Imperial
leadership, allowing Phase 1 of the operation to begin. The main goal of the project this time
was to create the next generation of Stormtroopers, who were stronger,
faster and more agile than the human born soldiers.
And after I go through all the phases of the Dark trooper program, let me know down below which one
you prefer. Do you think it’s more effective to have a massive brute, and focus on strength,
or do you think its more effective to have a thin, less strong, but more agile unit.
The Phase 1 dark trooper was the earliest fully cybernetic Battle droid
of the project and was nothing much more than a lightsaber-resistant, skeletal frame,
equipped with a standard issue vibrosword attached to it’s right arm and a blast shield for it’s left
arm. Because the Phase I dark troopers were so primitive, they served primarily as a defence
droid at Imperial Military Installations and were actually incredible at this role.
Again Because these Phase 1 Dark troopers were created so early in the project,
the scientists working on them weren’t able to figure out a way to hide their visible
and loose power cords just yet, creating many significant weak spots for the cybernetic soldier.
Finally, the Phase 1 Dark Troopers were given small jump packs, which they could either use
to jump higher into the air than their regular cybernetic legs would allow them,
or they could divert that power to make their vibro-blades vibrate faster, causing absolute
carnage when they came up against the flesh of a regular, human or biological soldier.
Eventually, the Phase II version of the Dark Troopers were created, and they were equipped
with a very similar suit, the same jump pack and were now even given a large, fully automatic
weapon known as the assault cannon. This repeater rifle was a massive 1.2 metres long, and fired
a horrifying lethal plasma ammunition that was capable of punching through almost any type of
body armor and would kill soldiers in a single shot. Only soldiers equipped with a personal
energy shield could hope to stand a chance against the Phase 2 dark troopers, with this weapon.
These Phase 2 troopers were eventually deployed by the Empire against the Rebel alliance operations
centre at Tak Base, in the brutal conflict that became known as the Attack on Tak Base. The attack
on this rebel facility was a direct retaliation for the destruction of the Death Star by Luke
Skywalker and was intended to strike a deadly fear into the hearts of all rebel sympathizers.
After the attack, Mon Mothma and the others in Rebel leadership became
incredibly concerned about the potential threat of these new Dark Troopers,
and gave Kyle Katarn the nearly impossible task of destroying the Dark Trooper Program as a whole.
Following that was the brutish and savage Phase III dark troopers. These were the most powerful
units in the Dark Trooper program and absolutely dwarfed the Phase II model in both strength and
size. Just like the phase II units, the Phase III ones carried a large handheld assault canon,
but paired with two shoulder-mounted seeker missile launcher racks,
that were hidden under the suit’s shoulder plates when not in use.
The Phase III units were also given a massive supply of fragmentation charges,
thermal detonators and concussion blast charges to aid them in case they were ever placed into
a tough situation. The Phase 3 soldiers also wore deep black coloured armour, made of the lightsaber
resistant and nearly indestructible material known as Phrik, mined from the moon Gromas 16.
This armor was of course capable of protecting against almost all enemy blaster fire,
lightsabers and electro-staves. Rom Mohc and others within the empire believed that if
this Phase III technology had reached it’s full potential and was manufactured on a large scale,
that it would have produced the absolute perfect battlefield infantry unit. These
units would contain a mixture of a clone’s creativity, unpredictability and initiative,
combined with the resilience and firepower of a separatist battle droid.
Unfortunately, because of their extreme complexity and cost, only a small number of Phase III dark
troopers were ever constructed and used in the service of the imperial army. One of
these very few phase III models was actually adapted, and used as a suit of exo-skeleton
armor by Rom Mohc himself, the creator of the program, making him incredibly strong.
And let me know down below which phase of the program you think Moff Gideon’s Dark Troopers
will be most likely to match. They could be using Phase Zero, with humans inside of the suits as we
did see the scientists inside of the building, but we could also see a Phase II version, being
completely mechanical. Maybe they’re trying to create an army of Force Sensitive Dark Troopers.
In addition to these three main phases of the Dark Trooper program,
many variants of these robotic soldiers were also created as experimental units. These include:
The Opressor-7 class dark troopers, which were armed with EE-3 carbine,
standard-issue E-11 carbines, stun batons and sometimes, even DXR-6 Disruptor rifles.
The Glory-Class Dark Troopers, who carried the same weaponry,
but also T-21 Light repeating blasters. The Elite Darktroopers, who were armed with SE-14C
blasters, alongside a variety of blast charges, fragmentation charges and concussion charges.
The Exogen-Class Darktroopers,
who served as law enforcement troopers around various imperial cities,
And finally, the Triumphant class troopers, who were known to have escorted Darth Vader during
several of his missions and the Dark Novatroopers, who specialized in boarding enemy vehicles,
mostly commonly specializing in boarding Rebel Ships.
There were a few other variants like the Opressor-9, the Victory Class
and the Black-hole Dark Troopers, but not as much is known about those ones.
Eventually, Kyle Katarn’s mission came to a head, when he was able to board Rom Mohc’s
ship, the Arc Hammer. Rom Mohc initially didn’t believe that Katarn was a threat whatsoever,
but after hearing that he had infiltrated the Executor, stole a cargo container
and boarded his own ship, Mohc began to take Katarn’s threat very seriously.
In response to this, Mohc suited up in his own creation, placing himself inside of his Phase 3
Dark Trooper exoskeleton armor. As Katarn fought vigorously through Mohc’s Dark Trooper defence
forces on board the ship, he eventually found himself inside of the same ante-chamber where
Mohc was waiting for him. After Katarn destroyed all seven of the Dark Troopers
that guarded the chamber, Mohc Revealed himself, and an intense final battle went down.
Kyle Katarn was eventually able to wither down Rom Mohc’s furious barrage of attacks,
eventually slaying the old imperial and escaping the Arc Hammer before he detonated
blast charges on board, destroying the vessel in a large red fireball.
So that leads us straight back to the Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 4 connection.
It was actually confirmed by the English Descriptive Audio setting on Disney+ that
Moff Gideon is creating an army of Dark Troopers for use by his imperial Remnant.
So those are the Imperial Dark Troopers from Star Wars Dark Forces and later the
Battlefront Games and Star Wars Galaxies. Let's hope we get some more information
on them in the Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 5 Chapter 13 Next week.
Thanks so much for watching, really hope you enjoyed the video. Remember to hit the like
button for more Mandalorian Season 2 content. Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one!