Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
The Imperials can't win the war by simply killing lots of rebels. They would still run into the Vietnam problem where even with a 10-to-1 kill ratio, the war is unwinnable militarily since more boys are becoming men and joining the Rebellion than Rebels are being killed. So the war will never end. The Rebels also operate like guerilla fighters. Embarking on a wild goose chase, sending fleets in pursuit to hunt down rebel fleets that are assembling and dispersing and hiding amongst many various hiding places would be a waste of time. The Rebels would just optimize their strategies to minimize the amount of ships they need to lead Imperial forces away from their targets.
The key would be to neutralize the Rebel's ability to effectively fight. Star Wars is a space opera in which you need lots of technologically complicated pieces of engineering such as spaceships or massive shield generators or huge laser cannons in order to wage galactic war. Take away that, the Rebels at most would be restricted to using pipe bombs and the such. They would be a thorn in the side of the Empire but would have no hope of defeating it militarily. Thus, the Empire needs to 1. focus on destroying the Rebel's infrastructure. Ie, their shipyards, their factories, the bases their ships repair at, and 2. prevent them from acquiring machinery and spare parts, be it by destroying convoys or stopping people from selling or donating stuff to the Rebels.
Tactically, you would want to catch the Rebels off guard when they are assembled, ie at a base like Hoth. Sending scout droids across the galaxy might help, though there is a decent chance that they might be detected by the Rebels and give the Rebels time to evacuate or prepare for a fight. The best way would be to try to send many infiltrators into the Rebellion and then wait for them to send a message when they are shipped out to a rebel base or a rebel fleet is forming. Then send in an Imperial fleet on top of them and wipe them out.
Lastly, the Empire would need to successfully improve its image and demonize the Rebels so that the galactic populace would become less likely to aid the rebels buy selling or donating machinery to them. Maybe they could try to economically incentivize spaceship manufacturers to want to sell their spaceships to anyone else but the rebels, and penalize companies or arrest CEOs that do.
If the Empire can make the Rebels look like inept oldtimers who aren't accomplishing anything while everyone else is doing fine, then I'd imagine that after a couple generations there would be less and less people joining the Rebels to replace retirees or dying veterans, and the Rebellion would eventually fizzle out.
The key would be to neutralize the Rebel's ability to effectively fight. Star Wars is a space opera in which you need lots of technologically complicated pieces of engineering such as spaceships or massive shield generators or huge laser cannons in order to wage galactic war. Take away that, the Rebels at most would be restricted to using pipe bombs and the such. They would be a thorn in the side of the Empire but would have no hope of defeating it militarily. Thus, the Empire needs to 1. focus on destroying the Rebel's infrastructure. Ie, their shipyards, their factories, the bases their ships repair at, and 2. prevent them from acquiring machinery and spare parts, be it by destroying convoys or stopping people from selling or donating stuff to the Rebels.
Tactically, you would want to catch the Rebels off guard when they are assembled, ie at a base like Hoth. Sending scout droids across the galaxy might help, though there is a decent chance that they might be detected by the Rebels and give the Rebels time to evacuate or prepare for a fight. The best way would be to try to send many infiltrators into the Rebellion and then wait for them to send a message when they are shipped out to a rebel base or a rebel fleet is forming. Then send in an Imperial fleet on top of them and wipe them out.
Lastly, the Empire would need to successfully improve its image and demonize the Rebels so that the galactic populace would become less likely to aid the rebels buy selling or donating machinery to them. Maybe they could try to economically incentivize spaceship manufacturers to want to sell their spaceships to anyone else but the rebels, and penalize companies or arrest CEOs that do.
If the Empire can make the Rebels look like inept oldtimers who aren't accomplishing anything while everyone else is doing fine, then I'd imagine that after a couple generations there would be less and less people joining the Rebels to replace retirees or dying veterans, and the Rebellion would eventually fizzle out.