Armies within the Star Wars galaxy vary vastly in both size and quality, from the Separatist
Droid Armies’ near infinite numbers to the Rebel Alliance's troopers’ ingenuity.
But there is one trooper across all the major armies of galaxy history that put the rest
to shame in terms of raw firing power and durability,
and it was the Dark Trooper, not to be confused with
the Imperial Sentry Droids seen in Star Wars Rebels despite their similar design.
The Dark Trooper project was among the most expensive and controversial programs within
the Empire, requiring nearly 2 decades for their
final phase to be completed and facing constant criticisms from multiple high-ranking Imperials
across its production.
Nonetheless, the Dark Trooper project was a success in producing a monster of a soldier
with their Phase 3 creation.
The first two phases were built as droids, while Phase 3 was able to be
activated as a droid or used as an exo-suit for a Humanoid.
Possessing the firepower of a starfighter and the armor of a tank, the Dark
Trooper was a near indestructible foe that brought
terror to the unlucky souls that had to face them.
During one battle, a few Phase 2 Dark Troopers were sent toward a Rebel base, causing the
defenders to scatter and retreat from just the sight of the frightening Imperial warriors.
One Dark Trooper was able to infiltrate a fleeing Rebel
capital ship during the battle, fighting its way
across the entire ship toward the command bridge, taking down all resistance it encountered
and causing the whole warship to crash toward the planet Tatooine.
Despite still being inside the ship when it crashed, the Dark Trooper survived and continued
its carnage on the inhabitants nearby, with three
Jawa sandcrawlers fleeing in chaotic horror to the
point where they drove into the abandoned pod racing arena.
After taking numerous direct blaster shots into its armor with barely a scratch and even
surviving being crushed by massive boulders, the Dark
Trooper was finally destroyed by a fuel explosion of the three damaged sandcrawlers.
The most powerful Phase 3 Dark Troopers were outfitted with an array of weaponry, including
a large handheld assault cannon, two shoulder-mounted
seeker missile launcher racks under the suit's shoulder plates, and a compartment
of various types of grenades.
It’s armor was so durable that it could withstand contact with even a lightsaber for
a short period, and the suit itself was at times classified
as a one man tank, requiring numerous direct hits from large cannons to even have any damage
done to it.
Equipped with a jetpack, the Dark Trooper was also extremely mobile, having the speed
to hunt down any enemies that attempted to flee, even
able to keep up on those riding speeder bikes.
Although the few times the Dark Troopers were used in battle amounted as great victories
for the Empire, their high price tags resulted
in only a few dozen being produced and used in
combat.
On top of that, shortly after the Phase 3 variant was produced, the Rebel Alliance infiltrated
the main Dark Trooper project base of operations
and sabotaged their productions, destroying most
of the suits while they were deactivated and killing the head of the project.
As a result to the successful Rebel infiltration and sabotage which saw the loss of millions
of credits invested into the suits destroyed
along with the inventor of their creations killed in action,
Emperor Palpatine decided to end all continued plans for the expansion of the Dark Trooper
suits and droids, preferring to invest into the Imperial Navy and second Death Star that
was under construction instead.
Despite the end of the project, a handful of surviving Dark Troopers remained within
the Empire and were modified by the various organizations
that acquired them.
One unit was used by the Inquisitors, which named their versions the
Inquisitorium Dark Troopers.
A few others were purchased by wealthy, well connected Imperial Governors and Moffs,
deployed as city police in areas with high rebel activity.
Overall, the Dark Trooper project held a promising future with producing the most powerful
trooper in galactic history and causing unimaginable widespread carnage against the Rebel
Alliance, but came to an end due to its immensely high price tag and unreliability in being
successfully produced following the destruction of its main production facility and the death
of its founder.
If you enjoyed this video, you may be interested in our Most Powerful Trooper Types and
Divisions videos for both the Clones and Stormtroopers.
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the Force be with you!