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I understand why the Empire would want to start using more than one genetic template to create clone troopers, but why did it start using non-clone troopers instead of just continuing the cloning program?

It seems that with cloning they were able to use a training program (and genetic manipulation) that gave them completely loyalty (other than when the Kaminoan rebellion, where the Kaminoans had sabotaged the training programs). Why stop using such troops and start using people that might question orders or aren't as easily controlled as clones were?

Levi C. Olson
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Tango
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5 Answers5

34

There were several reasons:

  • Fett Kaminoan clones were considered too risky due to Kaminoan rebellion (not due to their nature but their homogeneity)

  • Non-Kamino clones (e.g. Spaarti) were less stable

  • Clones were too expensive (and either too slow to mature or too unstable - take your pick). Getting a recruit is a lot cheaper than growing a clone.

DavidW
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DVK-on-Ahch-To
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    Hm, clones might actually take too long, too. From what we know, the first batch was in "production" over decades, with no or little speedup of maturation. This was no problem then because it was had to be done covertly and was planned long in advance. When the need for secrecy is gone, it should be way faster to recruit a lad with 18 and have him on active duty by 20. – Raphael Feb 19 '12 at 16:05
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    Can it be because they filmed IV, V, VI first and never mentioned clones and obviously were not clones. :D I am still curious why the director did not retake the scene "Trooper bumping his head upon entry". :D – Sid Nov 20 '12 at 09:13
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    And, as shown in the modern military, it is possible to train in the characteristics of obedience that make clones so attractive- that's the real purpose of Boot Camp. – Chuck Dee Nov 24 '12 at 18:27
  • @wraith808 - there's a major difference between discipline and obedience. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Nov 24 '12 at 21:03
  • obedience- Compliance with someone's wishes or orders or acknowledgment of their authority. discipline- The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience. I think we're talking semantics here. – Chuck Dee Nov 25 '12 at 05:52
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    @Sid They did mention a Clone War and that Obi-Wan fought in it under Leia adoptive father command. That is the whole reason he is their "only hope". – Hoffmann Oct 10 '14 at 19:32
  • Good points, but I would add that having a single genetic makeup in your forces renders you EXTREMELY susceptible to biological warfare, which did happen in the Clone Wars. Give people several more decades to perfect clone-killing bio weaps and.... no-go – Jeutnarg Jan 10 '17 at 03:06
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    @sid Episode IV definitely did reference the "Clone Wars", with Leia and Luke both mentioning it as a historical event. What is not present, however, are any mentions of any specific characters being clones. "The Clone Wars" was a thing, the identity or nature of those clones, or even the extent to which the name of the war was literal or figurative, was not. – Robert Columbia Dec 19 '18 at 02:12
  • Weren't some of the 'recruits' orphaned children who were taken and put into forced service too? I've not read any of the books/comics, I've only seen the films, but I thought there was something about that in regards to the trilogy-era troopers. – MissouriSpartan Apr 03 '19 at 14:30
  • @Hoffmann Aside from "Clone War" sounding cool and futuristic, I very much doubt any thought was put into what "clone" actually referred to. As a kid, I always thought it was something like the Jedi/Republic vs an army of clones, not a war the Republic fought with clones. – chepner Jan 22 '20 at 16:39
  • Lucas didn't have idea of Clone Army at that time. – user931 Jan 23 '20 at 10:25
12

In Allegiance, stormtrooper protagonists suggest that the Emperor consciously stopped producing more clones, favoring regular humans.

I guess that while he would appreciate clones as useful tools, he would still consider them inferior to "pure" humans. He is a hopeless racist, after all.

Also, he has no need of them anymore. Jango Fett was a good template, but the main advantages of the clone army was short breeding and training cycles and absolute obedience. Once the Empire is firmly in place, the Emperor can take all the time he needs to train and brainwash regular troops. He has a vast pool of recruits, too, as opposed to when he was Chancellor.

Furthermore, I seem to remember that the clones did not fare too well when living longer. They were made to fight hard and die quickly, not to serve for decades.

(Copied from my answer here.)

DavidW
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Raphael
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8

After the Kamino uprising, the Emperor decided that an army of genetically identical soldiers was too susceptible to corruption. Future troopers would be cloned from a variety of templates. Though the 501st itself remained pure, gradually, the rest of the Imperial Army became more and more diverse. We never really got used to the new guys.

~ Retired clone trooper, Star Wars: Battlefront II

Although clones were considered obsolete by the emperor he still used them occasionally if he needed to quickly scare a rebellion back into submission. The Spaarti Cloning facilities on the moon of Coruscant (and I think there was another on Anaxes) could mass produce mature clones in less than a year. This is where most of the clones during the battle of Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith came from. A downside of this is they aged 20 times faster than normal humans and 10 times faster than Kaminoan clones.

Community
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Stormtrooper DHX-11317
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1

The clone trooper program was discontinued for one of two reasons, as stated by the Imperial Brendol Hux in the Servants of the Empire series.

  1. Disease - Because they are exact clones, they are very weak when it comes to responding to genetic disease. If someone chose to use biological warfare to kill the, they'd die pretty easily.

  2. Inferiority - The Emperor thought of the clones as inferior beings, so he simply didn't want them to fight what "pure" people could fight.

Donatello Swansino
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  • "The Emperor thought of the clones as inferior beings". Well he was the one who commissioned them. Guess he saw them as a necessary evil in his rise to power? – Thunderforge Apr 03 '19 at 15:45
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Jango was a good template, but after the Kaminoan uprising The Emperor decided that the clone army could rebel.

When the clones Captain Rex, and Commanders Wolfe and Gregor removed their inhibitor chips, this proved that other clones could do the same, so The Emperor decided to change the clones to be his private army and have humans form the body of his main army.

s3raph86
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user73858
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    This looks like it could part of answer but it has severe formatting and grammar issues. Please try to clean this post up to made it legible. – Skooba Nov 08 '16 at 14:55