Imperial Garrisons

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Viral Qol is a Major in the Alliance's Special Forces unit, and was an expert on Imperial fortification engineering. A native of Niran, he graduated from college just days before the Empire conquered the planet. Viran joined the Niran Resistance, which was eventually absorbed into the Alliance. Viran regularly lectured on the construction and defense of Imperial garrisons to new recruits.


Transcript of Major Qol's lecture at Alliance Officer's Candidate School (location classified):

Standard Battalion Garrison Theory[edit]

The idea of a fortified structure intended to defend military assets and to project governmental power is both common and ancient throughout the galaxy. On most worlds that have experienced war, evidence of fortresses of some kind goes back to their earliest histories. On a few worlds, these defenses became very involved and complex, networks of castles or webs of walls or trenches. Some of the most impressive engineering feats in galactic history are, unfortunately, bastions of war.

The Old Republic was no exception. Although peace reigned during extended periods of history, the Republic suffered occasional wars and local conflicts, most notably the Clone Wars, and maintained fortified bases, as did its enemies. Fortification remained a living military practice from the most remote Republican period.

With the rise of the Empire and its doctrine of military modularity, the concept of mass-produced standard garrisons quickly became common practice, and the grip of the Empire came to be defined and structured by Imperial garrisons.

That is a bold statement, I realize. The symbols of the Empire are generally considered to be stormtroopers, Star Destroyers, TIE fighters, AT ATs, and of course, the Death Star. Perhaps it's my engineering background, but I consider the squat, symmetrical, brooding fortresses that control the strategic assets of the Empire an entirely fitting symbol for its unyielding omnipresence.

There are three major Imperial fortifications: the Imperial garrison, the Imperial orbiting defense station, and the mobile battle station. Fortunately, the battle station concept has not been widely produced, due to a few well-exploited problems in design.

(The audience chuckles.)

Imperial garrisons are deployed for several reasons:

- To protect the Empire. This has different meaning to Imperial High Command than it does to the Alliance. Garrisons are primarily military bases intended to defend strategic assets and positions from any who would act against the Empire and its citizens, such as Rebels, pirates, foreign sovereign governments, and its own citizenry. One of the primary protective functions a garrison serves is to keep a local population under the Imperial thumb, especially on sector capital worlds, major industrial planets, and in logistically important systems. Garrisons house the military might that many planetarygovernors and puppet states need to control their worh Is. They are usually situated near local spaceports and/or population centers, and provide sufficient firepower to repel a landing force and to cover arriving Imperial forces.

- Second, to provide Imperial services to a system. Many garrisons also serve as the headquarters for Imperial governmental offices. On non-secure worlds, the local garrison or garrisons can house the governor's office, COMPNOR, diplomatic offices, Imperial Intelligence, and the bureaucracy, as well as an Imperial Army corps headquarters. Garrisons also typically hold prisoners who are accused of Imperial Code violations1, including political prisoners. On secure worlds, most of these offices are separate from the planetary garrisons.

- And third, to occupy hostile worlds. In the aftermath of an Imperial "suppression", or planetary invasion, one or more garrisons are typically deployed by a Star Destroyer to serve as the headquarters of the Imperial occupation force and serve as a beachhead for future troop deployment. A rebelling world has a much better chance of throwing Imperial invasion back if no garrison is in place. A garrisoned world has the ability to suppress local rebellion and resist overt Alliance military liberation.

Models[edit]

Imperial garrisons are standardized and mass-produced. However, several design variations provide options appropriate for a given situation.

The standard garrison model is the primary subject of our concern. This is the model used on most worlds, and I'll be referring to it for most of the rest of the lecture.

The oceanic garrison is fitted with high-power repulsor units that keep it afloat on worlds covered almost entirely by liquid. This model is very much like the standard garrison, except for a sub-sea access bay, the seatrooper contingent, and the aquatic vehicles, including armored "Swimmer" transports.

The hostile-environment garrison includes an extra life-support sub-level, with airlocks on all access points sealed against the poisonous environment.

Orbiting garrisons are a rarity. Essentially, they are hostile-environment garrisons constructed in orbital space for the purpose of providing Army units with an orbiting fire base and secure headquarters. Usually these garrisons are actually two garrisons modules attached base-to-base, thereby providing full fire cover-age. In the few cases of such orbiting garrisons, the ground troops have been ferried to the surface as needed.2

Deployment of such orbiting garrisons touched off a firestorm of controversy between the Army and Navy. The Army considered any garrison to be an Army base, since it is in theory a corps headquarters, while the Navy considers any military base located in space to be a Naval installation.3 Currently, the few orbital garrisons in service are split commands: one under an admiral, the other under a major general. Though this situation causes a host of organizational problems, the compromise does generally work.4

The Army side of the orbiting garrison has a standard personnel complement. The Navy side has a roughly equivalent number of Navy troopers and technicians, a variety of spacecraft (including tugships—the orbiting garrison has no engines, and relies on the tugships for locomotion), and either three squadrons or a full wing of TIE fighters.

Garrison complexes — several garrisons deployed in close proximity and attached via underground tunnels, bunkers, and walkways—are rarely constructed. Only those worlds of vital strategic importance require such elaborate structures.

Garrison complexes have been constructed with up to six garrisons, generally attached in a ring formation. This sort of garrison complex is occasionally used as an Army, Systems Army, or Sector Army headquarters, and commanded by a general.

Perimeter, Defenses, and Design[edit]

The perimeter ring of a garrison includes its "death fence," a highly charged 10-meter-high mesh carrying enough current to disable an armored speeder and easily kill any sentient that touches it. The death fence is crossed via several gates, twin 15-meter-tall towers that house powerful force field generators. A forcefield is projected across the gap and turned off to allow passage. Each gate is protected by a pair of heavy repeating blasters, one in each tower. Atypical garrison has two to four gates, attended by security troops.

Just inside the death fence is a secondary ring of observation towers, one every 100 meters, linked by a fortified catwalk. The observation towers control the death fence sections, not the gate towers. Stormtrooper patrols prowl the catwalk at all times, aided by floodlights, motion sensors, and security droids. On the ground, specially trained Army troopers patrol with guard animals (often the repulsor-sensitive Garrals).

The middle ground, the section between the perimeter and the base proper, is a killing field protected by mines and modified probot patrols, and AT-ST scout walkers. This area is a flat checkerboard plain of sand, gravel, and duracrete5, offering no cover to attacking troops.

This zone falls within range of the garrison's deflectors. The deflectors can be lowered to within two meters of the surface, frustrating the fire of attacking armor. For ground assaults to be effective, either the defense screens must be occupied with aerial or orbital strikes, or the armored vehicles must gain the interior of this ring before being destroyed by fire from the garrison's gunnery.6 Not surprisingly, armor commanders prefer the former option. Just inside this killing field some garrisons have a trench ring, allowing defending troops to set up heavy weapons and counterattack positions.

The garrison walls are usually constructed of a mix of local materials and standard duracrete. The garrison shell is up to 10 meters thick, sloped for beam reflection, and able to survive repeated direct hits from capital ship weapons, due to its layered armor and particle shielding.

The main garrison armaments consist of six heavy twin laser turrets and three heavy twin turbolaser turrets. The lasers are used for defense against ground and air attack, while the turbolasers are intended to defend against starfighters and capital ships. The turbolaser turrets can pivot to any front, and can fire all three guns in coordination against an orbiting target.7

Additionally, the garrison has three powerful tractor beams able to seize and detain even strong spacecraft. Secondary armaments consist of heavy repeating blasters found at the vehicle bay gate and landing platform.

Garrison Layout[edit]

The interior has eight main levels and four or more sub-levels:

  • Sub-level one houses fusion generators that power various systems including weaponry, tractor beams, and defense screens.
  • Sub-level two contains environment maintenance equipment, control stations, refuse units, and waste disposal.
  • Sub-level three is used for storage.
  • Sub-level four acts as the droid-operated industrial complex, allowing a garrison to manufacture equipment and spare parts from local material as needed.
  • In some cases, an additional sub-level is included to accommodate a larger military force.

The main levels are the day-to-day areas. Usually, the first five have an identical layout, although some adjustment is often made to suit the commanding officer. Each of the first five levels has a security office adjacent to a detention block as well as barracks for stormtroopers, security troopers, technical, or operational specialists. Mess areas and sanitation facilities are attached to each barracks sub-section.

Level Six is the command level. It contains sensor monitor control, the communications array (including the main Comm, sub-space transceiver, hypertransceiver, and, at important garrisons, a HoloNet pod), weapons and shield control, base central control, officer's quarters, COMPNOR, and the CO's office.

Levels Seven and Eight are TIE storage, maintenance, and launch decks. All launch chutes are protected by strong force fields to prevent unauthorized landings.

The vehicle bay is one of the two ways into the garrison. All military vehicles are stored and maintained in this area, from speeder bikes to AT-ATs. A miscellaneous vehicle parking bay separates the vehicle bay from the main entrance, deep in the heart of the garrison, next to Level One security. This entrance is guarded at all times. There are also two secondary entrances from the vehicle bay, one to the garrison technical shops and the other to a storage gallery, both of which are code-locked. The bay itself is accessed through a heavy blast door flanked by a pair of guard towers with heavy repeating blasters.

The other entrance is the landing platform, which connects to Level Three security. The landing platform itself is vulnerable to attack, but the connecting ramp is rigged to explode on command, and Level Three security is well defended with light defense shields and a repeating blaster emplacement.

Personnel[edit]

A garrison is in essence a fortified house for its occupants.8 It exists solely to safeguard its personnel from attack. Imperial Army regulations require all garrison personnel to be proficient with a blaster, even civilian workers. While many of these people are simply familiar with weapons and therefore pose only a limited threat, the policy does illustrate the Army's dedication to holding its garrisons.

Most garrisons are considered corps HQs and issued corresponding personnel and troops. While this leaves the Army top-heavy, it simplifies the task of local coordination. Sector Command need not keep up-to-the-minute track of the situation on a garrisoned world; the garrison performs that duty, and serves as a secure landing head in the event Imperial military presence be-comes necessary.

Army[edit]

On non-secure worlds, where COMPNOR and government rely on the garrison, the major general is in command. Technically, the non-military personnel are simply tenants in the garrison and under the nominal control of either the planetary governor or a prefect. On relatively secure worlds, the tenant offices become garrison liaisons to the respective branch, and are still essentially under the major general's control.

Major generals are not usually superior quality officers. While competent, garrison commanders are usually dead-ended career officers waiting for retirement.9 There is a large demand for garrison commanders (thousands of garrisons exist throughout the Empire), but vastly less demand for generals or high generals. Most major generals retire within five years of appointment, often to minor governorships.

The corps HQ has a fairly lean staff for such a large unit—the major general is aided by five staff officers at the rank of high colonel: the second in command, who has responsibility for military intelligence; a logistics officer; a medical officer; a technical officer; and the headquarters officer, responsible for internal organization, especially security. Each of these has two sub-staff officers at the rank of lieutenant colonel to assist with their assigned duties.

The corps HQ is guarded by a line company (referred to as a security company in scandocs), under the command of the head-quarters officer. An additional six platoons of troopers, the perimeter guard, answer to the major general or his second-in-command.

In theory, a garrison houses four battalions. In practice, how-ever, a garrison may find itself with anything from four companies to four battlegroups. These units are not usually organized into their respective superior units—four companies, for example, does not make a battalion unless a battalion HQ is present. Unlike garrisoned corps HQs, other HQs travel to wherever they are needed. In many cases, this means that groups of floating units without mother HQs may be attached to garrisons for lack of the correct headquarters. Small units are usually housed on base. Larger units require the construction of barracks away from the garrison.

Support technicians for the base are attached to the HQ, and are responsible for garrison maintenance, sensors, weaponry and defenses, and general repair. Unit support technicians are attached to the units directly and rarely cross over to garrison maintenance.

Navy[edit]

A detached TIE unit — a Navy unit under Army operational command—is assigned to almost all garrisons. This unit is grouped under an auxiliary battlegroup status, but is often the only unit in that battlegroup.10 Army operational needs are different from Navy needs, and the resulting unit consists of 40 TIEs—10 flights of four fighters. Three flights are bomber squadrons, usually the older TIE/ gt model, six are line fighter squadrons, either TIE or TIE/ln, and one flight is a spotter unit — TIE/rc fighters serving as scouts, observers, and fire enhancers.

The pilots are highly competent, and have a slight advantage over their space-borne brethren in that they practice over the ground they are intended to fight for. The ground wing is served by 60 technicians and 25 controllers.

COMPNOR[edit]

COMPNOR provides a garrison with about 50 ISB agents for internal and external intelligence work (internal intelligence consists of loyalty checks, while external intelligence concerns the more standard ferreting out of the Empire's enemies). Some garrisons also house a CompForce support and observation unit. COMPNOR, especially the ISB, prefers to situate its branches off-garrison, but this is often not practical. Depending on the particulars of the situation, therefore, COMPNOR uses one of three organizational models: COMPNOR internal to the garrison, COMPNOR liaison offices in the garrison, or COMPNOR headquartered in the garrison with main personnel offices elsewhere.

Imperial Intelligence[edit]

Imperial Intelligence provides only one agent to a garrison, usually called the Ubiqtorate Man. This officer provides an average of 15 to 20 percent of a corps' useful intelligence, culled from the local system cells and DiploSer agents. The Ubiqtorate Man is never in direct contact with local system cells and receives that intelligence via Sector Plexus. The Ubiqtorate Man himself is attached to the local Sector Branch and is usually the head of any Crisis branch formed on a planet.

Stormtrooper[edit]

Overseeing all of these assets is a stormtrooper contingent, usually a full battalion, plus a scout trooper platoon. Stormtrooper command structure remains a murky issue, but, as far as has been determined, the stormtroopers answer to the major general and other Imperial officers.

A garrison stormtrooper battalion has 10 AT-ATs and 10 AT-STs attached to it, allowing the garrison commander to send up to 400 stormtroopers away from the garrison in safety, with scout escort. The AT vehicles are driven, maintained, and supervised by a small unit of 70 veteran Army assault troops on detached duty.

Staffing Policy[edit]

Garrisons are always staffed by non-natives. Imperial occupation theory is explicit about this. Acommander can expect troopers from the other side of the sector, or better yet another sector altogether, to fire on rioting or rebelling locals. That same commander cannot realistically expect the same of natives under all circumstances. There are many worlds with multiple rival cultures, and native troops can often be used effectively against another native group, but garrison forces are, in almost all circumstances, staffed by out-of-system units. The Army takes this as a general policy—recruits are simply posted out of sector. These officers, however, are not privy to classified data.

Droids[edit]

Droids are not generally considered personnel, but they function essentially as such. A garrison has a huge number of support droids, with some cases exceeding 2,000 units. Most of these droids are engaged in running the droid-industrial complex, which they do with only limited sentient supervision. The industrial droids most commonly in service are 12F series manufacturing droids, a highly competent model. The remaining staff droids are a fairly standard mix of mouse droids, astromechs, protocol, labor, servant, and security models.

Vehicles[edit]

A garrison has approximately 60 surface vehicles in service, including an armored limousine for the major general, assorted military landspeeders including five Chariot command speeders, a Mobile Command Base, often one or more juggernauts for Army trooper deployment, and on almost any world with urban development, a Floating Fortress. Additionally, the garrison repulsorlift pool has standard landspeeders, speeder bikes (aside from the scout troop's bikes), and troop transports.

The motor pool also assists in the maintenance of the stormtrooper vehicles—the AT-ATs, AT-STs, and speeder bikes. Vehicles of repulsorlift and armor units are generally maintained by their own technicians, at their housing base.

Multiple Garrisons[edit]

In the event a world hosts several garrisons, the garrison defending the planetary capital or the main spaceport (depending on Imperial needs) is nominated as garrison command and the others are set up using a battlegroup HQ model.11 Such a subordinate garrison is commanded by a high colonel, aided by five staff officers and four sub-staff officers. The sub-garrison is guarded by two security platoons and an abbreviated support staff. The sub-garrison serves as the headquarters for smaller attached units, up to four regiments. Stormtrooper presence is often reduced as well, down to one, two, or three companies.

To make up the ground troop gap, sub-garrisons often rotate attached units into the base as additional security, or deploy CompForce units (the commanders prefer regular troopers). The sub-garrisons generally mothball their flight decks, as the Navy has steadfastly refused to deploy TIES to non-corps HQs.12

A sub-garrison lacks the extensive COMPNOR and bureaucratic support—and headaches—that a regular garrison has, although every large unit has to deal with the ISB and CompForce observers. A sub-garrison is often able to requisition some superior, even priority equipment, using the argument that their lack of man-power must be compensated for by superior equipment; sub-garrisons often have several Floating Fortresses, which are much coveted by occupational commands.

Local Community and Social Issues[edit]

Many local communities look on Imperial garrisons with a mixture of relief and unease. On the one hand, most early garrisons provided security after the fall of the Old Republic, and their arrival signaled the beginning of a period of peace and order, backed up with a fair amount of might. Furthermore, the garrison provides a economic benefits in the form of a secure spaceport and military customers buying local goods and services. Enlisted personnel are housed on base, but many officers maintain off-base quarters, and everybody except the stormtroopers goes into town for leave.13 This economic boon includes not only the 3,000 garrison personnel, but also the hundreds or thousands of military personnel in units attached to the garrison.

On the other hand, the garrison also represents the increasingly repressive Empire. The enlisted garrison personnel are mostly bored young men, and when on leave away from NCO supervision their tastes tend to run base. A large proportion of the economy these men support is often not to community preferences. There is also a disruption in local routine as troops maneuver on exercises and block roads, armored vehicles plow through the countryside, and TIEs scream overhead at all hours. Family relations can be-come strained as local women are pursued by troopers from the other side of the Empire, who may or may not have legitimate intentions. Thousands of local cultural standards can be rudely stepped on by garrison personnel, intentionally, callously, or innocently.

All of this assumes a friendly local populace. On occupied worlds, the situation becomes positively grim. In such cases, a garrison is a drain on the economy, as supplies are usually simply seized or requisitioned at cost, and all of the usual garrison problems are magnified tenfold. Crackdowns and purges become routine, and the locals are often little more than slave labor forces for Imperialized corporations.

Military Issues[edit]

Overall, an Imperial garrison has a fairly simple, straightforward mission: to provide a fortified position from which to guard and control planets and local systems, and to provide deployed Army units with a central command. The Alliance generally has had little interest in taking garrisons. Garrisons are fantastically difficult to seize by conventional means, and cannot be held against the inevitable counterattack. However, High Command foresees a time when Imperial coordination is reduced, and our military assets are up to the task of neutralizing enemy garrisons. It should be noted that garrisons are capable of self-destruction in the face of seizure, which can be initiated by any two staff officers or by the commanding officer alone.

Seizure[edit]

Garrison seizure comes in three basic varieties:

  • Assault by conventional military means is not currently practical for the Alliance. This involves artillery, aerial, and orbital bombardment of the garrison, followed by a frontal assault by a combined force of repulsorlifted infantry and heavy armor. The garrison is likely to be able to hold off a concerted assault by up to a division. This is aside from the issue of dealing with the garrison's attached units, which must also be neutralized. If Alliance forces are able to attack a garrison with a small attached Army contingent, however, the garrison may be taken by surprise and quickly overpowered.
  • Siege, the second possible tactic, is the usual result of a failed assault. A besieged garrison is unlikely to fall, as a garrison stores supplies for one year, and is able to recycle material into new parts indefinitely, using its droid-industrial complex. Under current circumstances, a besieged garrison can expect to be relieved by

Imperial counterattack within a month. If the Alliance is able to isolate or distract other Imperial forces in the sector, perhaps in a coordinated uprising, it may be possible to successfully besiege a remote, under-supplied garrison.

  • Infiltration has a much better chance of success. Using this tactic, we have been able to temporarily seize and disable several garrisons. Infiltration involves using a small SpecForce unit, usually Pathfinders and Infiltrators, to sneak into a garrison under cover of dark or through use of a ruse. The infiltrating troops quickly take control of the command level and issue orders to allow arriving troop carriers to enter the grounds, or clear an arriving shuttle carrying troops. Once a sufficient force has arrived, the Imperials often surrender, although stormtroopers can be very difficult to subdue.

Such a seizure requires knowledge of hnperial command procedures and prior intelligence work to gain proper access codes. These seizures are always temporary, as we are unable and unwilling to maintain the garrisons as bases. We do sabotage the garrisons, and if possible, destroy them.

Alternate Tactics[edit]

There are two other methods of coping with garrisons that do not involve seizure:

The first is to obliterate the garrison via orbital bombardment. Unfortunately, this operation often proves impractical due to local population centers and/or lack of capital ships.

The other is to ignore the garrison itself, and deal instead with the attached units, drawingthem away from their secured zone and conducting a commando campaign while interfering with arriving troops, conducting mobile hit-and-fade attacks, and drawing the garrison's contingent into a thin, stretched command. This tactic is the very heart of Alliance strategy.

Questions?[edit]

Cadet 1: Sir, what is your preferred method of garrison seizure?

Major Qol: I would prefer to ignore them or obliterate them from orbit. To actually seize a garrison... well, covert operation seems to work best for us. A few Sector Commands have attempted to overtly assault garrisons, or besiege them in remote areas, and they ended in worse than failure—they were slaughters.

In particular, the case on Syni IV, where the commanding officer besieged a garrison by carefully remaining outside the garrison's weapons range and launching over-the-horizon artillery barrages every time the garrison tried to sally. The Alliance commander thought he had cut the remote system off via sub-space jamming. Unfortunately, when sector command realized the garrison wasn't transmitting, they dispatched a Star Destroyer to investigate. Syni IV remains under martial law.

You must remember that the Imperial war machine is highly coordinated and intelligent, albeit rigid, and that we cannot afford to hold ground.

Cadet 2: Wouldn't precision strikes effectively deal with most garrisons?

Major Qol: Precision strikes on a scale to deal with a garrison are rarely precise, and as I mentioned, most garrisons are near population centers. There have been a few campaigns where the local urban centers are deserted due to ongoing fighting, and some garrisons are already remote, but overall, orbital strikes aren't practical. Collateral damage, a polite term for civilian casualties, is inevitable, but the Alliance tries to keep it to a minimum. Starfighter and combat airspeeders can be useful for destroying weapon mounts and harassment, but they generally don't have the fire-power to crack the garrison defenses.

Major Qol Transcript Notes[edit]

1. Non-Imperial prisoners are rarely held in garrison — local despots generally have their own facilities. Also, Imperial detainees are only temporary residents; their sentence is served in a penal institution.

2. This is not ideal, as it makes every troop deployment to the surface a landing, a vulnerable situation.

3. Military jurisdiction over orbital space has long been a one of contention between the two branches. The Navy considers all space theirs, while the Army wants to be able to call on orbital fire support under their own command.

4. This controversy led directly to the Navy's commissioning the creation of a Navy-controlled orbital defense station. The controversy is further complicated by the deployment of Army garrisons on asteroid, sometimes in deep space.

5. Terrain is no guarantee of safety: Imperial mines can be quite capable of blasting through duracrete.

6. The garrison shields are entirely separate from local defense shields. Even if the planetary defenses are knocked down, the garrison remains able to use deflectors. Most of the time, of course, the shields are down to save costs and stress on the system.

7. If engaging in assault against a garrison, do not allow your ships to position themselves anywhere but directly over the garrison. The turbolasers cannot elevate directly up. They can depress to point almost at the base of the walls, however, and will destroy any target they hit on the ground.

8. Refer to your Imperial sourcebook, datapage 99 for more on corps and corps headquarters. Note: This publication contains a mis-statement of a garrison's military assets, correctly stating that a garrison military contingent is in theory four battalions, then incorrectly saying that these are stormtroopers, AT-ATs, and ATSTs. Apparently the crucial phrase in addition to was dropped and the confusion arose in editing. Taken literally, the text requires a single AT-AT to be the equivalent of 10 repulsortanks, and an AT-ST the equivalent of five repulsortanks.

9. In this, garrison commanders are unlike corps commanders, major generals in command of a field corps. Corps commanders are genuinely fearsome, fire-eating, blood-and-entrails creatures, willing to put entire populations to the sword and commit the atrocities necessary to invade a planet. They are, fortunately, correspondingly rare.

10. Although many garrisons are indeed saddled with CompForce regiments, especially on occupied worlds.

11. See datapage 94 of your West End Games Imperial Sourcebook.

12. The Navy considers the designation of a garrison as a corps HQ a bit of a dirty trick—and they're quite right, since the Army uses the garrison as an excuse to acquire TIE support wings, occasionally dropping a garrison where a non-fortified base would serve perfectly well, simply for the TIES.

13. No one is quite: sure what, if anything, stormtroopers do on their time off.


Material reprinted from the Star Wars Adventure Journal, Number 12, by Peter Schweighofer (Ed.), copyright November 1996, from West End Games