What if THRAWN had a Super Star Destroyer? - Star Wars Theory 

I feel like Thrawn would use an Executor as bait rather than as a flagship. The NR knew how terrifying an SSD can be, and they were quick to organize a task force to kill any that were discovered. I can see Thrawn leaking the location to the New Republic, attracting a large NR kill fleet to it, then Thrawn Pincering them into oblivion.

This is the joy of Thrawn. Throw him any pieces on the board you want, he'll make a strategy out of it. In the first of the new canon Thrawn books, he tells Vanto that ISD-sized vessels coupled with smaller support ships and fighters offer the most versatility of use for the most situations, and implies that many people make the mistake of thinking that bigger equals better. That's not to say that Thrawn would not have approved of SSD in principle. If you consider the ISD to be a hammer, then the SSD would be a sledge hammer. Not nearly as useful as a regular hammer, as it can't be used nearly so often, but when it can be used you'll be glad you have the sledgehammer to hand instead of having to use the handheld. And the threat of a bigger hammer tends to have more impact (cough) than a smaller one. If Thrawn had one, he'd find a way to use it. That's just how he is.

It could have also been used as something called a "fleet in being". It was a strategy used by the Germans in WW2. Basically, the British had to devote an entire fleet to being ready to take on the Tirpitz should she leave port. The SSD could basically paralyze New Republic fleet movements because they had to be ready to counter that ship, and they would never know if their next engagement might have them facing it.

I think a loose fleet of Star Destroyers would've benefitted the Imperial Warlord era.

That really is the question, why the hell did he never get an SSD? (Edit: Before the fall of the Empire I mean, Palpatine saw his tactical brilliance, and if anyone merited the command of an SSD, it was Thrawn)

I think this Mr. House quote could very well sum up how Thrawn would use the Reaper (Or other SSD) "I haven't shown my hand - I've shown one card. I've given my enemies a single, provocative datum upon which to fixate. They have no idea what other cards I'm holding. It's a strong hand, believe me - I dealt it to myself."

Being keenly aware of the vulnerabilities of a Star Dreadnought, I think Thrawn would ultimately find three uses for one: - Bait. The Rebellion never passed up a chance to catch and kill a Star Dreadnought if they could. Many died at the hands of relatively small Rebel forces - crippled by earlier fighting, over-confidence of their commanders, or lack of a proper support force. Thrawn, seeing this, could leak evidence of a vulnerable or isolated Star Dreadnought - in fact, laying a bloody trap for a Republic fleet taking advantage of a target they could not ignore. - Overlapping with the first, there's Diversion / Deterrence: Unguarded, a Star Dreadnought can seize even well-defended systems on its own. Thrawn, knowing this, could use one to tie up a fair fraction of the Rebel fleet warding against any aggressive maneuvers by it. Thus forcing his foes to tie down a portion of their forces, Thrawn could earn much more 'breathing room' for his main force. - The killing hammer-blow. If I've made Star Dreadnoughts sound weak or useless in actual battle, that's a mistake. As Thrawn himself showed at Candoras, and both Rebellion and Empire would later show at Borleas, Adumar, and Celanon, a properly-supported Dreadnought can be the force that makes or breaks a battle. I have no doubt that when Thrawn felt it was time to bring a killing blow on his foes, he would bring his Dreadnought to bear as well.

He'd likely use it to bully the less forthcoming imperial worlds into paying their dues and as a giant distraction piece for the New Republic. Much like Thrawn himself was not just a threat because of how smart he was, but because of how smart everyone THOUGHT he was. The SSD would be a threat not just because it is powerful but because it's something they can't afford to ignore and would need to tie up taskforces chasing.

I feel like an SSD is against Thrawn’s “cannon” military doctrine. He likes to use more ships and squadrons then just a very large one. But who knows I didn’t do much reading of the Legends books.

I disagree with your assessment that an Executor class wouldn't be viable for hit and run tactics as that's exactly what Warlord Zsinj used his Executor class, Iron Fist for very successfully. It's a powerful fleet in and of itself that could operate on its own freeing up more vessels for other duties. Thrawn wasn't opposed to SSDs at all, he simply was denied access to them in his campaign.

Eck : What if Thrawn had a super star destroyer New Republic : Pls stop.

#AskEcks : What if at the Battle of Atollon, when Konstatine disobeyed his orders and moved his Interdictor out of position, a bridge officer had removed him of his command _(perhaps with prejudice),_ and kept the Interdictor in formation. ?

As others have said, Thrawn criticized SSD designs for having a comparatively limited role to an escorted ISD fleet that could be made under the same resources. He did not think them weak in terms of actual application and design of the ship. A well-placed Executor-class with support is uncontested in sheer firepower, an Executor is a fleet in and of itself that can, even alone, enact full scale raids, cripple planets, and so long as an interdiction field is not established escape unscathed due to its enormous power generation and shields. The SSD is a lot better at raids than you suggest, much as others have mentioned with Zsinj. The biggest problem with an SSD without the Empire to support it is maintenance and supply, something difficult to continually supply but in the short term if he can fill the crews up he can likely gain access to those supplies through the raids and future conquest. An SSD would allow Thrawn to always have an enormous strike option if he keeps it in hyperspace range, able to drastically increase destruction at almost any time during a battle or to even put into operation another raiding fleet targeting other systems in high profile raids. Imagine the fear that would come seeing a high profile attack of an SSD, and knowing that SSD is out there somewhere. The SSD would have also allowed Thrawn to have the fleet strength to switch off of the stateless strategy towards conventional warfare much earlier through this enormous increase in force projection, power, command capabilities, and others, its important to remember an Executor is not just a sledgehammer, it is even more than an ISD a full command station and can launch invasions, support, supply, and command thousands of TIEs acting as a complete and full starfighter base, the SSD has an enormous presence over the battlefield at any time. The SSD would also lead the New Republic by the nose, public fear of it would skyrocket and so it would be captivated and controlled by the SSD, allowing Thrawn to plan around the intense need from the New Republic to hunt it down.

One thing I have often thought of for this is that, given Thrawn's strategy, an SSD could be used as a "fleet in being." The very presence of an SSD could be used to tie down enemy forces or lure them to certain areas and away from others. This has been employed in real life naval warfare many times, using for example a Battleship that lacks adequate escorts to be deployed, as a lure for enemy forces. This would provide more breathing room for Thrawn's more flexible task forces. In this way, even an under crewed SSD could be more effective out of the fight than in it.

I could see Thrawn using it as a diversion or even as bait. Keep the New Republic chasing it while his regular strike fleets have more breathing room and a wider range of targets. If the NR didn't take the bait Trawn could punish them by striking a sensitive target with the SSD.

I remember in the "Courtship of Princess Leia" novel, the main Imperial villain was Warlord Zsinj who was in possession of an SSD called "Iron Fist", although it was destroyed during the events leading into the novel. During the novel Princess Leia says to Han Solo that it takes so much energy to run a Super Star Destroyer that only a handful could be used at any one time.

I feel that a Bellator Class SSD would suit Thrawn better. Still has the heavy firepower but with the speed and flexibility that Thrawn could exploit better in his tactics.

I feel like thrawn would you use the reaper to essentially use the ship to "jab" into the underbelly of the new republic. While his task force could do a blitzkrieg strike. when needed could recall the reaper in times to do a major push of a conventional strike, like how you said about the battle of bellbringi* I think thrawn could have cause more damage to the new republic,thus allowing the warlords to make a more significant gain before the end of the war.

Thrawn gaining a SSD would have needed a vast enlargement of his officer corp. Ship officers to command and crew it. Clones just would make up the crews. Even if Thrawn died a Officer in command of a SSD in Thrawns fleet might have held his forces together much longer than they did.

Alright. As crazy as it might sound, my team (Me and two or three others) actually did more or less what you said about the revised Battle of Bilbringi in our upcoming fan novel trilogy. We are trying to use pre-existing material from Legends as much as possible in order to make callbacks the hardcore fans will recognize and respect. Our story is written to fit in the Disney canon as much as possible (Even though the overall continuity of the Canon itself is busted). We would very much hope to get your opinion on weather fanfiction (especially HEAVILY researched plots) are worth the time it takes to write them. We do not wish to be annoying in any sort of way. We simply wish for an authority on both SW timelines to take a look at the overall plot and determine weather it is worth writing. Tangents aside though, I do agree with your assessment of Thrawn's predicted use of an SSD. More of a shock and psychological tool than anything else.

Thrawn did not like SSDs as a concept, they are extremely inefficient resource wise. However, most of that inefficiency lies in their building, not specifically their use. When you can build 5 Impstar Dueces for 1 SSD, it's better to have all 5 that you can split up for 5 small attacks than 1 big one. As pointed out, by Eck and even the Thrawn Trilogy itself, eventually he NEEDS to have big attacks. Sluis Van, Bilbringi, Ukio. A SSD would be perfect for all 3, especially if he kept all of his starting assets and received it. I don't think he would make it his flagship, but I do think he would make it a central feature. Thrawn had no issues showing up himself for key battles, but as seen in the Katana Fleet recovery, he had no problem delegating crucial operations to his captains. A loyalist captain, maybe even one from the Empire of the Hand, would likely be brought in as a full admiral for the ship. The captain would maintain control to not feel slighted or politically oppose him, and he would be able to entrust key missions to the admiral more than the captain. And an SSD certainly ranked an admiral. Why would an SSD be so useful to him, especially at those big battles? Thrawn LOVED to drain a sector of its resources through feints. Eventually, the New Republic would and DID catch on to it. But an SSD is an insurmountable threat, that any NORMAL imperial would obviously be using as their flagship and main thrust. New Republic Intelligence would be tracking it with everything they could muster, and it would ALWAYS be assumed to have Thrawn aboard, especially with his handpicked admiral to call the shots on it and always meet expectations. It would be a free decoy for him, while being effective enough to BE the main thrust when needed. With an SSD he could rely not only on his own presence to win a strategic battle, but a competent sledge hammer as well when that would work. He could suddenly double his own "masterstrokes" by not having to just rely on himself. Thrawn was always shown as a "one man navy" so to speak. His own presence was enough to guarantee victory, because if it wasn't he would simply retreat. An SSD under a protégé Admiral, would likely continue that trend of retreat if needed. Combined with his own strategic planning and competent use of his new Sledgehammer, he would ALSO have a powerful propaganda weapon as the New Republic would assume he was on the SSD, and see some "NEW omnipotent miracle worker on the ISD Chimeara" as well. They would start seeing "Thrawns genius spreading" and soon every smart independent move by one of the OTHER captains would start a myth of a proganda "deep genius bench" where even if Thrawn was "killed" by targeting the SSD there's 2, now 4, now 10 captains to replace him. And Thrawn THRIVES on propaganda and narrative control like that, and would happily play into it. The key to that strategy is 2 fold, the ISD having a competent Admiral, which "worst case" could easily be Gilad Pellaeon, and Thrawn remaining on the Chimeara for the most part to let the effects start speaking for themselves. The difference between Thrawn holding a sledgehammer and a trusted Admiral holding it aren't going to be obvious, especially considering that Thrawn would still be the strategic mastermind. Someone like Pellaeon weilding it would look almost identical since SSD tactics are fairly universal, it's their strategic approach that differentiates their effectiveness, which is why Lusankya did nothing of note combat wise until under the New Republic. Sure Thrawn preferred a Scalpal, but he used the Sledgehammer too when called for such as the second Myrkr raid to crush Karrdes old base, to see who scrambled after. In conclusion, Thrawn would likely use an SSD in a similar way. A strategic Sledgehammer to replace his tactical genius prowess with an effective second strategic fleet. He would likely also benefit from the confusion and focus on it, and would minimize his strategic risks by splitting his strategically effective fleets into "two baskets" so to speak. He would finally, also have the perfect opportunity to run a propaganda campaign to even more efficiently demoralize and stoke the inevitable dread of "Thrawn controls everything we're doing" he was so masterfully using during his campaign as being able to start more rumors of his "protégés" taking over as well

I would love to See your Idea to leave the reaper without Crew some where hidden in the Mando Verse. A secret Thrawns that the Rangers of the New Republic can find out about in their series

I feel like the mere fact of having an SSD is a boon. It is such a symbol of power and destruction it immediately draws attention, and that's how I think Thrawn would use it. Immediately shift the enemies attention and cause them to act rashly since there is a hulking dreadnought floating Infront of him. Additionally we can't forget that an SSD is as much of a politician tool as a military one.

Plot Twist: Thrawn has an SSD in the upcoming Filoniverse.

I can also see Thrawn being one of the few strategists that would be willing to sacrifice a SSD. Trick the New Republic into overextending themselves to address a major new threat and then blow it up along with a sizable chunk of the enemy armada and fighters.

Thrawn wouldn’t hide an SSD in an asteroid field, he’d slap the Empire’s cloaking technology on it. It would take him four months to grow enough clones to fully staff said ship which wouldn’t be worth doing as that’s a major commitment away from crewing other ships in the fleet; bolstering the army etc. I’d suspect any SSD would be used with interdictors to force NR ships to surrender rather than be destroyed.

Hi Eck, I have been thinking and I would say what Thrawn would want the most is better communications! He used a dark 'insane' Jedi as a communication system to allow better coordination for attacks. If he could achieve that near instantaneous communication and coordination between fleets that I believe would be better for him than a hundred SSD's.

Forget a SSD, I’d love to see what Thrawn could do with a fleet of Legacy Era ships like the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer, it’s larger variant the Imperious-class Star Destroyer, and the Ardent-class Fast Frigate, along with the TIE Predator starfighter. Although even if he had to make do with Galactic Civil War Era starfighters, as long as his ship of the line was the Pellaeon, I think he’d be able to dominate. Give him TIE Interceptors as his standard fighter, TIE Avengers as his elite fighter, and TIE Defender or Missile Boat as his elite fighter-bomber. With all of that plus at least a dozen Pellaeon Star Destroyers (in addition to other supporting ships), he could do great things.

How much would he be helped not by having an ssd per se, but by having a flagship with a class 1 hyperdrive instead of the Chimera's class 2?

His need for clones to crew it would largely depend on where he gets it from. The Reaper from the Pentastar Alignment should come with a full complement, but other sources might have less/no crew, such as Dominion and Megador under Harrsk in the Deep Core and others would have to be repaired, such as Drommel's Guardian.

He probably would have it scraped and used for more valuable and expendable ships

Thrawn is my favorite. He would have made the difference at Endor.

3:08 Ehh an SSD can be pretty good for hit and run if the enemy has no interdictor. It's all those guns under a shield that can last longer under sustained fire than an ISD, and thus "Hit" for a few minutes longer in any Hit-and-Run.

The thought that comes to my mind would be either; 1,use the use the SSD to do symbolic attacks while his main fleet carries out strategic important attacks. Like while he is building up the numbers of his fleet, have the SSD launch raids or a campaign on places like Dantooine, Yavin 4, etc... small in the big picture, but as long as there is technically a presence and a symbolic Rebel connection, an SSD causing destruction would be a nice distraction. or 2, use it as a buffer in battle. At the battle of Coruscant, Thrawn could use the SSD to soak up New Republic attacks while his primary force focuses on maximizing the impact of his attack.

What if: Thrawn was given an SSD? Answer: He’d give it to Faro and say: “Have fun.”

Fleet battle between Grand admiral Thrawn vs. Ender Wiggin Each one has an equal sized fleet with equally capable subordinates, and since Ender is from a different universe each has equal understanding of the technology they’re using. They are in command of Star Wars vessels. Pick a famous fleet of your choosing I’d suggest death squadron.

Here's a Thrawn-esque tactic that could be used if the Grand Admiral employed a Super Star Destroyer. So Thrawn had cloaking devices right, he used them over Coruscant with the Asteroids. What if he retrofitted this theoretical Executor with said Cloaking Shields (As seen with the prototype Executor depicted in Star Wars Rebel Strike) and utilize it akin to his Strategy above Ukio where he snuck a cloaked Dreadnought through the Shield and gave the impression that he had shield piercing technology. This, However can be even more devious if he ties it with a Katana Dreadnought. He can have the Dreadnought go to a shipyard or station with this Executor arriving in advance and have the Dreadnought Turbolaser fire coincide with a volley from the Executor, giving it the impression that the dreadnought has some sort of Superweapon capable of such an attack. Heck, he doesn't even have to rely on Mad-Force users if Thrawn has this Executor deploy sensor anchors timed with the Dreadnought launching some false warheads, making it look like its a component of this Superweapon. Thrawn then can use his counter intelligence expertise to leak that these Katana Fleet dreadnoughts were all secretly equipped with this Weapon, Giving the impression that he has 178 Super ships and forcing the Republic to act along with intimidating or inspiring the major Unaligned or Warlord territories to his cause. Furthermore it can force the Republic to waste resources trying to understand how this weapon works with the 20 remaining Dreadnought in their possession, tying precious intelligence and defense on these glorified Scapegoats. (PS) I just realized Pellaeon came up of with this same exact plan in the First chapter of the Hand of Thrawn Duology and dismissed it as an easily noticeable rehash so take it for what you will.

If Thrawn had a SSD, the Rebels would still have plot armor to counter it

A game mod called Thrawn's revenge answered this nicely. His faction put a cloak on it, using the ship to hurt enemy morale. A little less powerful then opposing supercaps but imagine never knowing if a SSD might suddenly appear off your formation to broadside you. Any opposing commander would have to factor it in and plan conservative, not to mention less heavily shielded targets such as shipyards screaming for enough garrison in case it was to suddenly appear. Unleashing several salvos before disappearing just as suddenly.

EckhartsLadder: Mentions "Yukio" My mind: It's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!

Thrawn? with a Super Star Destroyer? you have my full attention, been waiting for you to talk about this topic for a while.

An alternative to secrecy it could be useful as "fleet in being", used sparingly. It would also gain him more support with Imperial remnants. He might get one or two additional capitulation out of that trick at Ukio if it was an SSD firing through a shield. I'm sure he could find some more creative uses for it, being such a smart smurf and all.

As stated, even an SSD couldn’t have saved Thrawn from Rukh’s blade. But I’m sure he would have found a use for an SSD, it *is* a powerful ship, both as a symbol and as a weapon. I just don’t think he’d have used it as a flagship and bragged about it as any typical Imperial would, it’d be just another piece in the game of chess he was playing with the New Republic.

Another awesome vid man keep them up i reference alot of your videos when i have conversations about star wars i always find them amazingly informative and interesting keep up the great work love all urs vids and the effort you put in makeing them

I think Thrawn would have likely used an SSD as sort of mobile base that could literally drift through interstellar void giving him a reliable safe haven. But most of all I think he would have kept it very very secret. Even if someone tried to track him down who would expect him to drop out of hyperspace in a seemingly random location nowhere near anything.

This was a riveting video, Thrawn has always been my favourite character since I got Zahns original Thrawn Trilogy. A personal favourite ‘what if’ is what if Thrawn wasn’t assassinated? Had he, for instance, handled the Noghri differently and other events had mostly played out the same, resulting in him not being assassinated, would he have defeated the new republic? You’re video speaks of how Palleon would not be able to seize the advantage but I believe Thrawn might have. Thrawn’s empire would definately have been a better one, combining the power and organisation of Empire with the inclusivity of the republic. He definately would have made reforms. Ah, if only he lived longer… Glory to the Empire!

#AskEck, what would happen if Legends Thrawn and Canon Thrawn confronted each other in a fair space battle. Alternatively I'd ask what if the Canon Thrawn was at Bilbringi, would it have changed anything?

Fleet battle Rebel fleet at Endor vs. Cole’s fleet at Cole’s last stand

Something of note to consider, even though Thrawn still dies during the battle, an Imperial Victory at Bilbringi means that the Rebellion loses Ackbar, Rouge Squadron, and the smuggler alliance. That alone changes Galactic history pretty significantly as they all still had important roles to play in future conflicts.

It is worth noting that the Lusankya was able to quickly blast a hole into the planetary shielding of Coruscant during Ysanne's escape from the planet, and made mincemeat of a few defensive skyhooks that were unfortunate enough to be along its escape route. An SSD would definitely have made a raid on Coruscant a viable option on Thrawn's table, even if the conquest of it remains impractical. I could see him launching a multi-pronged attack on other planets to draw away the heavier elements of the Coruscant defensive fleet, and then launch a supported Reaper to punch a hole through the shields of Coruscant in the vicinity of the Galactic Senate... and unless he had confirmation that key New Republic military leadership was present at the Senate, he'd launch a half-hearted bombardment of it more to scare politicians into committing more resources towards Coruscant's defense out of paranoia and making them more resistant to committing Coruscant Defense resources towards responding to Thrawn's attacks elsewhere... essentially emulating the effect that the Doolittle Raid had on the Japanese during WWII. It should be noted that the Lusankya was also handicapped in this instance due to both a massive repulsorlift cradle covering up any ventral gun emplacements preventing their use, and both the repulsorlift cradle and setting the ion thrusters to maximum drawing significant power away from the Lusankya’s shielding and weapons systems.

I have to assume the lack of an SSD was a limitation put upon Zahn when he was writing the books. After all, at the time, I'm pretty sure the Executor was the only SSD that was known when he wrote the books. Back then, we had no reason to believe there were ever more than the one. So, a more interesting question would be - what kind of Thrawn would Timothy Zahn have written if the character had been in command of an SSD from the beginning?

I've started considering an SSD to fill the same roles you would expect a space station to fill, namely get it into a place where it acts as a metaphorical wall that has to be directly confronted. The SSD seems too awkward to be used on the offensive as it can't addapt well to dynamic battle conditions but may serve well in assualts against space stations. My favorite remidies for making an SSD a terrifying offensive platform is to take full advantage of the massive hull. Eeven if you can't fit a super laser it should still, by all means, be able to support weapons commonly found planet side as orbital defenses such as the ion cannon in Episode V. With that kind of range and firepower an SSD would force the opponent to flee or close the distance into its inunmurable turbo lasers and onscene amount of fighter support. And that's not counting the mandatory escort fleet which would be no small matter by themselves.

I agree that Thrawn's fate was sealed, but his campaign might have been quite different with the Reaper at his disposal. He might not have been able to provide a full crew for it as a combat vessel, but as a logistical ship, it could serve as a mobile resupply or communication facility requiring a fraction of its full manpower. If he could crew it, I'm sure he would've taken more fights that his canon forces would've avoided. I quite enjoyed the video and would love to see more theory crafting from you in the future!

You are missing a level of strategy that ssd would offer. He would keep it at the rear of the engagements early in his campaign with a skeleton crew when he was conquering star systems without a single shot fired. In this roll the fear level would make a huge difference more than the use of firepower. Later on a fully shielded ssd would still be able to take a massive beating, leaving his smaller ships unhindered to focus engagements. As he grew in imperial support and it became manned the ship would then be used to It's full potential. You have to think like a Grand Admiral and understand how to deploy those resources before you see the complexity of beneficial uses that doesn't necessarily equal offensive.

In the new thrawn trilogy he specifically says "Star destroyer-sized capital ships and large numbers of supporting starfighters are the most efficient and flexible naval array for both deterrent and combat." Not to say he wouldn't have a good use for them, but I think it's pretty clear he would prefer a couple more ISDs and a handful of light cruisers over a SSD.

If anyone could make efficient & effective use of a SSD it's Mitth'raw'nuruodo. Whether its using it to lay a trap, lay siege to a target of opportunity or maybe cannibalize it for parts. 😎

Considering Thrawn seemed to despise throwing too much manpower and resources into a singular 'basket' i agree with @mark green that he would likely use it as bait, by present it just enough so that the rebels are terrified of where it may be and thus deploy resources into chasing a phantom rather than the actual stratagy that Thrawn would employ.

The empire are the baddies, but when we look at Thrawn we want him to win. I hope we get much more of Thrawn in film soon.

The logistics of maintaining a SSD would be much more constricting than an ISD in an era of reduced Imperial resources. Edit: I got to the part where Eck said pretty much the same

If he did the rebel alliance will be in big trouble

I think that he would mostly use it for the psychological value and feint the New Republic. If the SSD would help Thrawn capture, Luke or Leia in any way, then the Norghri would have less of a reason to kill Thrawn in the end. Ultimately what killed Thrawn was Leia's kholm grass movement, if you will. If Talon Karrde was taken to the SSD when captured then the rescue may would've been harder just because of how much ground Luke and Mira would have had to cover. It's further possible Thrawn wouldn't have flown the SSD to Yavin to capture the Millennium Falcon for resource reasons so they would've needed another ship to escape in. I think that the SSD if not used earlier would be stationed at Wayland until Thrawn could utilize it fully and that the mad Jedi (whose name escapes me) would see the SSD as a worthy ship and be tempted to steal it. Maybe Thrawn would "promise" to him.

Honestly; he would have used it as a mobile command unit a supply ship. maybe even a mobile cloning facility. You are very right in the fact that it takes a massive amount of resources it is slow and it didn't fit his needs the beginning of the of the campaign. It would have been his home one

This would be an awesome idea. I doubt Thrawn would care to use such a vessel as he would feel it would be a waste of resources and manpower. Now I would like to see an video on how Thrawn would improve starships as he seemed to be more practical on what he needs and where it is needed.

I think he'd have it minimally crewed, perhaps even stripping most of its armament for other ships, an SSD is good at 1 thing, drawing attention, he could use it as a sacrificial force, to draw NR fleets away from a target, long enough to launch an attack, then the SSD could jump away, if it hasn't been destroyed, and he can either do it again or use it for some other purpose, like say battering a planetary shield,

I really love the vids eck! Keep it up!!!

The opening scene of this video is from “Star Wars Tie Fighter Deluxe Edition CD ROM”, the greatest Star Wars flight sim/battle campaign game of all time. I really wish Lucas Arts would revive it for PS4.

Vs matchup Sgt. Johnson(Halo) vs Captain Rex(Star Wars) Johnson gets Br 55, 1 m6 sidearm and marine BDU Rex gets DC 15 rifle his pistols and phase 2 clone armor

I completely agree with the video; an ISSD would not have worked with Thrawn's earlier strategies. The ISSD represents a shift from hit/run tactics toward more securing plant tactics. I am not sure what Thrawn's end goal was, but if he had an ISSD, he would be able to capture key planets such Kuat or other military assets.

Too bad he doesn't think ships that size are an efficient use of resources.

Thrawn would probably replace every starfighter on SSD with a tie defender/advanced or a starwing, surround it with carracks an just mow down the battlegroups while having his ISDs for pincer maneuvers in the case where he gets himself in a less advantageous position. Kinda how you play empire at war against AI- throw in super star destroyer to sponge damage and outflank enemies with support cruisers when they are busy with the SSD

More what if stuff from you would be pretty cool Eck. theres a lot of oppurtunities in SW and other franchise.

Since its Thrawn he would use it in a really creative way we cannot think of or use it like germany used the Tirpitz but at minimum man power to limit the ressources for the upkeep. Just standing by in a port in the sights of everyone, so the new republic needs to commit allot of resources and station a fleet there to counter it in case it comes out, or just needs to assemble a gigantic fleet in case they want to attack it, which the Empire could detect easy. He doesnt really have any use for it before the he gets the Katana fleet, since he already did everything he wanted and could do with the ressources he had. After he gets the Katana fleet he actually could affort getting even more on the offense since he has a SSD to guard his stuff. The battle of Bilbringi possibly wouldnt even have happened if the Reaper was there. It was a sneak attack by the new republic with forces detached from other fleets and the numbers needed to be small enough for the empire not to notice.

I think you're massively downplaying the usefulness of an SSD in the early stages of the Thrawn campaign. Above all else, the Grand Admiral is a master at getting into his opponents' heads, whether to manipulate them, or merely predict them. SSDs are terror weapons first and foremost. Tarkin described the effect brilliantly himself - the sheer scale and firepower of these things scares people so much, they give into fight-or-flight impulse rather than think about how to take them down rationally. Kaine's flagship even has the perfect name for such a terror weapon: the Reaper. Thrawn, being the master of psychology that he was, would've absolutely known about how he could use that fear factor to his advantage. Look at how the Nazi German Kriegsmarine used Tirpitz, or, in-universe, how the CIS used the Malevolence. Both ships did very little of actual significance, but they tied down countless assets, particularly capital ships, to defensive roles because of how much firepower they carried and how much fear they generated. If Thrawn erratically swapped out his normal raiding force for *a fucking Super Star Destroyer,* the New Republic wouldn't have any way to predict where the Reaper would strike next, and their systems and fleet live in fear of being caught outside of a stronghold by it. The New Republic would have to try and fortify literally every planet, and guard every convoy sufficiently, to repel an attack by an Executor - something they absolutely did not have the resources for, but would be forced to do anyways to prevent widespread loss of morale. Thus, the New Republic's resources, already nearly at the breaking point after Sluis Van, would be stretched even thinner. Not only would a concentrated attack like Bilbringi thus be more likely to result in a decisive New Republic defeat, but it would be harder for the New Republic to reinforce the battle adequately. Both of which play directly towards an Imperial victory.

I think, as you said, if he had a SSD he could have gone after heavier targets, this would not only make the NR more uneasy, but also greatly increased the number of sites they would need to protect, leaving fewer ships to try and track Thrawn, additional, it would mean any plan to go after Thrawn and his fleet would require far more ships, and pulling ships from defending multiple high value target, thus making it harder to actually pull together and get support for, as if they’re wrong, and say they pull defenses from systems to attack his fleet, but instead a couple of the now undefeated targets were destroyed, the NR would likely never be able to pull defensive forces away to an offensive fleet ever again without massive pushback and outrage.

I have been enjoying your videos since I started watching a month ago. Keep up the good work.

i think it could have changed the tide of the war. a ssd is capable of countering bsaically an entire fleet of capital ships if properly protected. thrawn had the means to surround the ssd with hundreds of smaller escorts to annihilate the NRs fighter advantage and enough ISDs to back up the big boi that he could have forced the NR into a descisive battle

Basically, Thrawn would completely annihilate his opponents, no matter what he had.

Now *this* is where the fun begins

Thrawn is the true emperor

I imagine Thrawn would have used a SSD in ways it wasn’t imagined. (Just think what an ssd could do in a hit in fade where it just jumped in to a spot where it didn’t need to move any more, and pummeling a planet or a station, then jumping out well before enforcements that were any danger to it arrived.) Super weapons weren’t his thing though. Executor was pretty darn close to that.

As a last resort, bad things turned decisively against his fleet he’d turn to them. Or as a hammer to deliver a final blow; if he’d managed to encircle Coruscant he’d deploy them as a final overwhelming push to fish the Republic off.

"And the threat of a bigger hammer tends to have more impact (cough) than a smaller one" Something we used to say in the Army Motor-pool "is it doesn't work, get a bigger hammer. If that STILL doesn't work... get a bigger hammer. Go in deep and replace everything on the way out!"

I think you're overlooking the thing that made Thrawn such an effective Star Wars villain following the Original Trilogy, which is that he was very much "Not Tarkin". In fact with the prequel / Clone War / Imperial Expansion "history" we have now, "Not Tarkin" is about the best description of Thrawn. He not only had his own ideas about warfare based around using tactics to use his enemy's strengths and weaknesses against them, but he was openly disdainful of the Tarkin Doctrine and the "bigger is better" approach taken by the emperor. Remember that he was exiled from the Empire's inner circle for openly questioning Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader over the Death Star. He says to Palleon that the Death Star and the SSD were a foolish concentration of so much of the Empire's resources in a single place for the rebels to take out in a single action and were a large part of why the Empire lost at Endor. Now, would he make a good use of a Super Star Destroyer? Certainly. Would it be in battle in a Tarkin style approach of "shock and awe"? Absolutely not. It would be a psychological weapon, bait in a trap to lure a Republic fleet, or something used to keep his opponents second-guessing about "when is this thing going to show up" instead of focusing on what Thrawn was really doing. He doesn't even need to crew it properly to do that. Thrawn's overall military strategy was based around small combined arms squadron cohesion and strategic flexibility... if that sounds like a Sci-Fi version of the Roman Empire's military at its height there's a good reason for that. In the later battles he deployed multiple combined ship type squadrons such as a single Star Destroyer with 4 Katana Fleet Dreadnaughts and relied upon C'Baoth's battle meditation to coordinate his forces. Same deal earlier on when he used squadrons of a single Star Destroyer with several frigates and other lighter ships. A Super Star Destroyer doesn't fit into that kind of deployment any more than a war elephant would have fit into the Roman army's legion deployments.

Here's a potential video "what if the first order had Thrawn?" While I know somethings wouldn't change I'm interested in what Thrawn's thoughts and how he would've used the first order's assets specifically the Supremacy on one hand I know he doesn't like large targets but the Supremacy was a effectively a mobile city state capable of large scale production and repairing of Star Destroyers something that I think he would appreciate.

personally i think the loss of all the higher ups of the nr that were at bilbringi + loss of ships would put pelleon in a fantastic position to take on the nr

If thrown had a SSD it would’ve been game over. As an example, the battle of Bilbringi would’ve ensured a terrible defeat for the NR, and he was the type of strategist to never let the NR know about it until they COMMITTED to a fight like that, reveal it there, and decimate the entire fleet sent. Assuming he wasn’t killed at Bilbringi, which was a terrible way to end the story arc anyway. Edit: I wrote this before the part of your video where you talked about Bilbringi. We’re on the same page.

Commander, I am here...

I love the legends theory vids!

He'd probably keep it in absolute reserve as a secret resource to bring in for the final blow of his campaign; allow his regular fleet to appear to be overwhelmed in order to bait the trap that the New Republic has a chance of winning a crushing battle, and then when the NR forces are committed and can't easily escape, bring in the SSD along a pre-chosen Interdictor vector and trap them in a pincer move. It wouldn't have been part of his usual military doctrine since an SSD runs counter to his beliefs of making a larger fleet of more flexible ships; bigger isn't necessarily better, which is the same reason he opposed the Death Stars. Plus, given his tactical skill, he wouldn't have had much need for an SSD, making it an unnecessary drain of personnel, resources and funds to maintain, taking up limited dock space that could be better used on other ships.

I agree I think the problem with the SSD Is that it’s a powerful asset but an inflexible one. Thrawn s campaign was based on speed and flexibility and that is something SSDs simply cannot be used for. Those ships are meant for straight up slug fests. It would have been useful in a couple of of individual battles but that’s a very limited scope. The best use of the SSD for Thrawn probably was the fear it would inspire. Maybe Thrawn once he learns that the New Republic has identified him he leaks that he has an SSD ready for battle. Use the fear of the power of the ship rather than the ship.

I think you have it right, hell I would go so far to say that Thrawn wouldn't crew the SSD at least not with his own men. Unlike other Imperial officers who want bigger and badder. Thrawn knows it's smarter to have several smaller ships who can do the job just as well. The Reaper really wouldn't have changed much, even if the Empire won at the shipyards the NR would regroup and strike back.

If Thrawn had an SSD along with the Katana fleet, I'd see it forming the core of a mega raiding group, along with maybe half a dozen Dreadnoughts as escorts. It would of allowed him to expand his insurgent strategy to the point he could openly picket and blockade otherwise safe New Republic planets for weeks on end knowing full well that nothing short of a massive fleet could stop him. The Mon Calamari idea seems sound, in particular if he uses the opportunity to scuttle a bunch of the cruisers being built there.

Having not watched the video yet, I think he'd use it as a base. If he didn't have a secure planetary base, as his primary; otherwise, as a mobile forward support base. In either case, it wouldn't itself be a combat asset. Decent place for R&R, bays large enough for all but the largest peers could be modified as maintenance slips, and probably even strip weapons for replacements or upgrades.

I had always assumed that there were 12 Super Star Destroyers with whitewashed hull armor and that the Chimera was one of them.

Imho had Thrawn had access to Reaper he would have used her at the end, mainly as a symbol (both with Imperials and New Republic). An SSD he would have actually used is the Bellator, since she would fit doctrinally

I think he would have used it more for fear and to pull republic forces away from places he wanted to attack with his main quick and mobile force.

The Empire could have used SSDs like how good Zerg players use Ultralisks -- as big, damage and attention-soaking targets that distract from your smaller units as they tear through your enemies. That, and wearing some stab-proof armour under his uniform, might have turned the tide of Bilbringi

It depends on the SSD i think, an executor would be if used at all, dedicated to forces that fought more like the old empire. A smaller more mobile SSD with a decent fighter/anti-fighter loadout would be much more favourable.

Wouldn’t the Pentastar alignment provide Thrawn with personnel along with the super Star destroyer? There’s no need for clones.

What if thraw discovered the maw installation and had the prototype Death Star and sun crusher? Daala would finally have the level headed commander she needed in thrawn