Dark trooper



The dark troopers were advanced battle droids that featured heavy armor, powerful weapons and jetpacks for increased flexibility and tactical advantage. They came in three versions: the Stage I dark trooper was a droid armed simply with a blade and physical shield; it was primarily a testbed for the later stages and the Stage II dark trooper was to be the standard line unit, capable of serving either as a fully capable droid, or as a suit of specialized armor for a stormtrooper. The Stage III dark trooper was never fully developed; the only prototype was used by the originator of the dark trooper project, General Rom Mohc. It was a more powerful variant of the Stage II model.

Squadrons of the dark troopers were characteristically deployed along side the standard Imperial stormtroopers and the Imperial Army regulars in battles to add their distinctive advantage. They used their advanced training techniques and jetpacks to drop behind enemy lines or outflank enemy positions, contributing to the overall effectiveness of battle maneuvers by creating havoc amongst their foes.

They were equipped with specialized assault cannons, rather than the the standard E-11 rifle; they were also issued additional fragmentation grenades, thermal detonators and concussion grenades. Dark troopers wore dark gray armor made of the nearly indestructible metal phrik, mined on the moon Gromas 16. In addition to providing superior defense against enemy fire, the armor was specially modified to allow a soldier inside to endure the extreme maneuvers the suit/droid was designed to perform.

The dark trooper project was the brainchild of General Rom Mohc, who strongly advocated the martial virtues of close combat with one's enemy, and thus disagreed with the philosophy that created such weapons as the Death Star. He operated the dark trooper project from his customized starship, the Arc Hammer.

The dark troopers were first used against the Rebel Tak Base in the Battle of Talay, in retaliation for the destruction of the first Death Star. They slaughtered all the Rebels in the base. Concerned about the potential threat of the dark troopers, Mon Mothma tasked Kyle Katarn with program’s destruction. Katarn succeeded in destroying Arc Hammer after killing Mohc. With the death of Mohc and the destruction of Arc Hammer, all research into the dark trooper project, and other battle droid programs, ended. However, the project survived enough to be used by Carnor Jax to massacre the Emperor's Royal Guard (except Kir Kanos) at their headquarters on Yinchorr.

Equipment
As mentioned above, there were three different phases of dark troopers. Dark trooper Phase I was the earliest dark trooper and was little more than a skeletal frame equipped with a cutting sword attached to its right arm, and a blast shield on its left. Dark trooper Phase II was the standard dark trooper, equipped with an assault cannon fixed to its right hand capable of firing 400 plasma shells and 20 missiles, and a jetpack. It was also capable of being loaded into hyperspace pods for transportation. The last and most powerful dark trooper was dark trooper Phase III, which dwarfed even dark trooper Phase II and was capable of being used as an exosuit and being operated independently. Only one dark trooper Phase III was ever constructed; it was in the service of General Mohc, who tried to use it against Kyle Katarn during a battle onboard the Arc Hammer, where he was defeated. Its weapons were an assault cannon and two shoulder seeker missile launchers which were hidden under the droid's shoulder plates when not in use.

Behind the scenes

 * Dark troopers were first introduced in Star Wars: Dark Forces. The overall objective of the game was for the player, as Kyle Katarn, to destroy the project before it was fully implemented.


 * Dark Trooper Phase III was just introduced into the latest expansion for Star Wars Miniatures by WotC, the expansion set was called: Universe.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Dark Forces
 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds