Arc Hammer

Arc Hammer was an Imperial factory ship used to supplement the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps with battle droids.

Characteristics
Like many other Imperial starships, Arc Hammer had a long, narrow, dagger-shaped hull; however, it also had four large columns surrounding a central one that protruded from below and a small, flat bridge structure in front of the columns on its dorsal side.

The Dark Trooper Project, which was to create larger, more powerful robotic versions of stormtroopers, was developed inside the vessel. Construction lines filled the interior and four large downward-facing hangars were responsible for receiving cargo vessels and loading batches of dark troopers into transports or deploying them directly above a target world.

History


Being a secret facility, the factory frequently made jumps to hyperspace, and only one ship&mdash;Executor&mdash;knew its exact position at any given time. It was commanded by General Rom Mohc, who also headed the Dark Trooper Project. Dark troopers were deployed directly from the ship in their debut during the Battle of Talay.

Following the successful theft of the Death Star I plans, Rebel-allied mercenary Kyle Katarn was assigned to investigate the loss of Tak Base on Talay. While there, Kyle discovered a large gun, too cumbersome to be efficiently wielded by a regular stormtrooper.

Eventually, after investigating various secret Imperial factories and weapons scientists, he learned of the Dark Trooper Project, and snuck aboard Arc Hammer via a cargo transfer. He later destroyed the ship by placing sequencer charges throughout certain exhaust ports within the ship.

Behind the scenes



 * The length of Arc Hammer is determined by comparing it to Executor and several escorting in the first cutscene of the game. It is shown clearly to be about half the size (and slightly smaller) than Executor, albeit being further away from the camera than the Star Dreadnought. See the appropriate section of Executor's article for more information.


 * Another way to calculate it more precisely is to compare it with the Imperial-class Star Destroyers that are closer to the camera than it. Arc Hammer seems to be at least 6 times the size of a Star Destroyer that is closest to it; therefore, Arc Hammer is definitely longer than 9.6 km, but how much longer cannot be said with accuracy.


 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption has Arc Hammer at a fraction of Executor's size. The game's Prima guide claims the ship is only the size of a Star Destroyer, but since that term has been used to describe ships in size from the Demolisher to the Executor, this provides no clear estimate.


 * Sand Blasted shows a different and inconsistent version of the factory, which resembles a proper Star Destroyer with two columns protruding from the fuselage.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * Star Wars: Dark Forces
 * Sand Blasted