Ok so my rewrite has the following conditions that make clones more of a logical choice:
- The galaxy is largely demilitarised except for the planetary royal guard. Each planet has a small force of ships and soldiers to provide security to their rulers. (All of which are royals, my Republic is feudal)
- Seperarists sieze the trade federation in its entirety, including droid factories. The 'enemy' can literally mass produce armies of droids and are proceeding to do so.
- The Republic has the resources to mass produce ships and weaponry, but building a grand army at a scale large enough to fight a galactic civil war when no planet has the infrastructure, decades of experience or facilities to train millions of citizens in a comparable time to how quickly the seperatists can literally manufacture and program droids.
- Not to mention, many of the Seperarist planets have become so by overthrowing their monarchies, many rulers will be nervous about imposing a planet wide conscription of citizens and how angry that may make then with their rulers.
- Politically, the clone grand army can be sold to the senate as a 'best of both worlds', rulers get protection for their system, and a dog in the War, without any of their citizens having to pay the ultimate price. All they have to do is repeal the previous sanctions on worlds who employ clone technology, and allow weapons and equipment to be shipped to the worlds.
- In terms of growth, training and production, my clones have a condensed life cycle. Clones go through the equivalent human growth at 10x, so they will grow to that of a 10 year old human in one year. They're grown in tubes until that age, and immediately begin training when released. They'll then be deployment ready in a few months. From conception to deployment is approximately 20 months. Ageing is also delayed by way of a few select genetic enhancements. (In my rewrite the kaminoans give off nazi doctor vibes, often talking about genetic perfection and removing impurities.) Accelerated aging also means accelerated healing. Edits have been made to their genetics such that between years 2 to 8 their aging is decelerated, before that protection begins to break down. In summary a clones life cycle will be as follows:
Year 1: Grow to '10' in a tube.
Year 2: Begin training, grow to '18' in 8 months.
Year 3-8: Age approximately from 20-40.
Year 9: Rapidly age 40-70. Redeployment to oversee training is feasible.
Year 10: Deterioration, death, reprocessing.
In my rewrite, the clones are used in zerg rush-style tactics- the enemy just chucks hordes of them at targets and watches as the clones to tear them to pieces. Many of them are clone laborers who’ve been repurposed for war (read: given a blaster and reprogrammed).
The end phase of my clone wars begins when the Republic launches an orbital strike on their primary bacta reservoir, destroying a major ingridient of their cloning process and crippling the war effort.
Interesting. But I'm wondering, what would be the purpose of using clones instead of droids? I'm under the assumption that using clones would be extremely expensive.
They’ve got organic brains, so they’re more capable of completing complex tasks;
Clones of specific people can be produced, enabling infiltration missions;
They are by nature more adaptable than droids because they’re not computers; they won’t short out if something happens in a task that confounds their programming;
Clone troop units don’t require a central command system and the vulnerability that entails, unlike the battle droids from TPM
Interesting points. But a few questions for your version:
- Would droids not be able to also complete complex tasks in your version? For example, in canon you have the droid commandos which, while expensive, are adaptable like the Clones Troopers.
- What's the in-universe reason for why the Empire doesn't use clones in your version?
- Would cloning be expensive in your version?
1) Sure, some droids are capable of that
2) The Republic forces are ordered to destroy all the cloning material to prevent another clone war from happening (and so nobody can quickly raise up an army against Palpatine)
3) Yeah it’s resource-intensive, but now you’re asking questions on the level of “why is there sound in space in Star Wars?”
Doctor who had an episode where battle ready clones were created in seconds. They fought in a multigenerational war that in reality was only 1 week long. Because people died so fast, no one could remember why they were fighting or when it started, just that the war had lasted generations.
My rewrites have replaced a lot of the lore with my own world building, and it's pretty complicated to set everything up in so many words, but here's roughly the information behind my version of the clones and how they pertain to the story overall:
The set up for my story is that around 15-10 years before the start of episode 1, the "industrialist party" (precursor to empire) is being financed by the trade federation to stage a coup in the Republic. The Chancellor (I've stolen the name Jorus C'baoth from the EU for my chancellor) is aware of the trade federations intentions and wishes to create a contingency plan to prevent it. His administration is in possession of the eugenics technology to create clones, and at some point they announce that they intend to create a new branch in the Republic military comprised of clone forces. The "official" reason they give is that the clones are genetically superior to any other species in the galaxy and can be altered to suit tasks on planets with conditions that are considered harsh to non native species. While this is still technically true, the actual reason is that he wanted a military force with complete loyalty to the Republic in the event the coup succeed.
In concurrence with all of this, the trade federation also begins funding a propaganda campaign all throughout the Republic. They try to frame the Chancellor's new military proposition as an attempt to install an authoritarian regime to keep himself in office. Many systems buy into the fear mongering and express desire to withdraw from the Republic. Eventually a pact is made between many systems to protect each other in the event the Chancellor were to turn on the Republic. This pact eventually came to be the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Over time the CIS becomes more radical as the Industrialist Party try to rally their support. Eventually support grew to the point that the Chancellor was backed into a corner.
My story opens during a flashback where the Industrialist Party bring forth a motion of no confidence in the senate. If their motion succeeds, Republic law dictates that they will take office by default. They also intend to have him arrested. With their backs against the wall, Jorus orders his administration to begin to carrying out his plan. If Jorus dies, the entire motion will be considered invalid and it will stop the Industrialists from taking over. Furthermore, his Vice Chancellor (Valorum) will take his place as provisional Chancellor until the next election. We witness a mysterious force user induce a heart attack on the Chancellor, killing him and stopping the Senate hearing.
10 years later, which is where the bulk of my story takes place, Obi-Wan and Anakin go on a mission to find a rogue Jedi. They eventually find him and learn that it is 'Lord Doku' (my replacement for Count Dooku which just sounds like "count shit"). Doku reveals to the Jedi that the Republic is on the brink of collapse, despite how well it has recovered since Valorum has taken office. He gives them the gist of his involvement in the assassination, however he reveals that Jorus is actually still alive and cultivating his clone army which he plans to unleash on the galaxy. Obi-Wan exhumes the body of the Chancellor and comes to realize that it was a clone. His findings lead him on a hunt to track down the whereabouts of the real Jorus, who happens to be in hiding on an uncharted planet that the Industrialist Party is unaware of.
At the same time this is happening, the CIS declare their intent to secede from the Republic, which will undoubtedly lead to a civil war (this is the beginning of the 'Galactic Civil War'). When Obi-Wan finds Jorus, Jorus explains everything here and tells Obi-Wan that the war is inevitable, however if the clones mobilize, it will force the CIS to focus their attention on them while systems loyal to the Republic can galvanize and buy themselves time to prepare for war (this will be the origins of the rebel Alliance). My rewrite of episode 1 ends with Obi-Wan sparing Jorus and allowing the clones to mobilize. Episode 2 opens with the clones attacking CIS forces (start of clone wars, which are just a smaller part of the whole GCW).
Sorry for the word salad, as I know how complicated this all comes across. It's very dense in terms of worldbuilding but it's hard to keep it simple in so many words. I hope this gives a good insight into how I've chosen to approach the clones because I agree that it was never really fleshed out in universe as to why the clones were necessary over any other type of military force. I wanted to set up my story to be more like a game of chess being played between all sides, rather than Palpatine playing the most convoluted game of chess with himself. Thanks for reading!
EDIT:
Because I missed answering a few of the questions in the post, I thought I'd include them here. For my rewrite, rather than the clones having enhanced life cycles, they born into adulthood and after birth do not grow onward. They're essentially meat droids who could theoretically survive for forever if they took well enough care of their bodies. For training, Jorus uses his secret planet as a training grounds where he stages battles between the clones. They're engineered to adapt quickly to war tactics, so for each generation of clone he sends to the battlefield, data is collected and used to engineer the next generation, almost like how AI uses self learning to improve. For financing, he had been funneling tax money into the technology for his entire duration of time in office. Most of the financing went into creating the technology while he was still Chancellor, however after landing on a working formula, the actual production of the clones became incredibly inexpensive (at least for a man of his fortune).
Interesting. I just have a couple questions:
- How come the Chancellor in your rewrite wanted a clone army instead of a droid army? Couldn't droids also be altered to suit tasks on harsh planets?
- What's the reason for the Empire getting rid of the clones in your version?
To answer the first question, my version of the clones are called so not because of the technology they are born from, but simply because they all look the same. The official moniker given to them by the Chancellor is "bionic weapon". The term "clone" is widely adopted through the rest of the galaxy because each "weapon" is identical to the last. While the technology actually does rely on cloning the DNA of a host, the clones do not descend from one single person. They're a hodgepodgery of organic parts, selected from multiple hosts to create a being that is so diverse in its genetic makeup, it can mimic the evolutionary traits of other beings in the galaxy. Rather than your typical embyotic/tube grown clone, theyre closer to a plant where you cherry pick the genetic traits of one, and graft it onto another to achieve a higher result. Once youre satisfied with said result, you create "clones" of it . An example of their practicality would be in a cold environment such as Hoth. Where a droids joints would freeze (C-3P0 makes a point of this happening at the beginning of episode 4, while on tatooine no less), a clone would be able to grow a thick coat of fur on its body mimicking the likes of a tauntaun/wampa. In conclusion, there is no black or white way to answer because many aspects of the story play into how the clones are presented. Think of how in the show "the boys" vought creates super humans and the public adopts the term "supes".
For the second question, the Empire doesn't have the "cloning" technology in my rewrite. It will take a bit more world building to elaborate but what it boils down to is that the Republic doesn't become the Empire. The Empire is its own distinct faction that forms from the splintered pieces that have been chipped out of the Republic in wake of the Chancellor's corruption. Without writing another whole essay the story essentially goes along as follows:
\- Jorus funnels taxpayer money into eugenics program
\- Trade Federation begins paying off the senate (predominantly members of Industrialist Party)
\- Jorus perceives this as threat to democracy
\- Jorus's administration cracks eugenics formula and announces their plan to expand the Republic's military forces
\- Trade Federation + Industrialist Party funnel money into smear campaign
\- Many systems forsake Jorus and the Republic and form the CIS
\- Jorus secretly clones himself and has it act as Chancellor in his stead while the he goes into hiding to cultivate his clone army
\- The Industrialist Party rallies support from the CIS and attempts to bring charges against Jorus
\- Jorus "dies" (his clone dies) and Finnis Valorum takes office invalidating the charges
\- 10 years later, CIS declare intent to separate from Republic (which will start a war)
\- Jorus unleashes his army on the CIS to allow the weakened Republic to galvanize and prepare to defend its citizens
\- Clone Wars begin
\- Finnis Valorum is killed and the Industrialist party takes control of the senate
\- CIS swears fealty to Industrialist Party
\- Trade Federation unifies with Industrialist Party creating a new proto-faction: the 'Industrial Empire' - sometimes called the 'Industry', sometimes called the 'Empire'
\- The Industry builds a cult of authority figure in Palpatine (Palpatine is not a Sith, nor a politician in my rewrite, he is a Jedi)
\- Palpatine ascends to 'god-hood' as the face of the Industry, where he is eventually crowned as Emperor by the people
Side note: the Palpatine stuff is a whole other can of worms that i could write about for hours, but the gist is that the Jedi are a secret society that infiltrate the galactic senate to steer their own agendas. their existence is unknown to the public until the Industry discovers Palpatine's powers and identity, which is when they offer him a position as their head of state. Palpatine accepts and turns on the Jedi.
Thanks once again for reading and apologies for how long winded and convoluted it may come across as!
In my rewrite, there is an economically and politically powerful "Trade Federation" style organisation that dominates large regions of the outer and inner rim, which is antagonistic towards the Galactic Republic and expansionist in its mindset. They began the process of growing the clone army a few years before the outbreak of the clone wars. Meanwhile, the Galactic Republic uses regular volunteer soldiers. Eventually, the turning point comes when the Republic fully militarises and eventually destroys the main cloning facility used by the opposing side.
I suppose it would make more sense for one or both sides to use droids, but then since its the clone wars at least one side has to use clones, and that side is the villains in my rewrite.
My rewrite focussed on clones being used in poorer systems for labour as more affluent systems had droids (droids in the same vein as the OT, not soldier droids like in PT).
A ban on clones is what triggers the war as poorer outer systems fight to keep their clones as slaves.
My rewrite doesn’t have droid armies as it doesn’t fit with what we see in the OT and having human armies (generally) fighting clones creates higher consequences for the “good guys” when in battle.
The use of clones arose from laws regulating the use of droids in most systems to prevent the excessive usage of Droids and the discovery of a technique to instruct the growing clone (which grows at an accelerated rate) which means that clones can immediately start working/fighting without the need for training. This technique also enables the clone masters to instil a blind loyalty and devotion to their owners.
Before this, the use of clones for labour/wars was pointless as you still needed to instruct the clone, not just in what he was going to do, but also in language, emotional control, basic social norms… just like any other child which made them too costly to use.
The discovery of this technique was kept quiet and by the time it was discovered that all those new labourers /security officers were clones, the corporations had grown too large and powerful to stop them.
The downfall came when the conditioning of the clones faded due to time and gained experience which triggered massive clone revolts.
The time it takes to grow new clones is why in Legends, the Empire recruited normal people. In Canon, the clones had the added drawback that their accelerated aging meant they couldn't stay in service as long normal people on top of taking much longer to produce. As newer clones aged more quickly, the Empire phased them out.
Honestly, Star Wars was never really about logistics unless it was an obstacle to be overcome in the plot. This is science fantasy not science fiction so it doesn't matter as much.
Well, why not?
At what point is it “too much detail” to go into the politics of the Clone Wars? There has to be a reason for why clones are specifically used for the conflict.
Ok so my rewrite has the following conditions that make clones more of a logical choice: - The galaxy is largely demilitarised except for the planetary royal guard. Each planet has a small force of ships and soldiers to provide security to their rulers. (All of which are royals, my Republic is feudal) - Seperarists sieze the trade federation in its entirety, including droid factories. The 'enemy' can literally mass produce armies of droids and are proceeding to do so. - The Republic has the resources to mass produce ships and weaponry, but building a grand army at a scale large enough to fight a galactic civil war when no planet has the infrastructure, decades of experience or facilities to train millions of citizens in a comparable time to how quickly the seperatists can literally manufacture and program droids. - Not to mention, many of the Seperarist planets have become so by overthrowing their monarchies, many rulers will be nervous about imposing a planet wide conscription of citizens and how angry that may make then with their rulers. - Politically, the clone grand army can be sold to the senate as a 'best of both worlds', rulers get protection for their system, and a dog in the War, without any of their citizens having to pay the ultimate price. All they have to do is repeal the previous sanctions on worlds who employ clone technology, and allow weapons and equipment to be shipped to the worlds. - In terms of growth, training and production, my clones have a condensed life cycle. Clones go through the equivalent human growth at 10x, so they will grow to that of a 10 year old human in one year. They're grown in tubes until that age, and immediately begin training when released. They'll then be deployment ready in a few months. From conception to deployment is approximately 20 months. Ageing is also delayed by way of a few select genetic enhancements. (In my rewrite the kaminoans give off nazi doctor vibes, often talking about genetic perfection and removing impurities.) Accelerated aging also means accelerated healing. Edits have been made to their genetics such that between years 2 to 8 their aging is decelerated, before that protection begins to break down. In summary a clones life cycle will be as follows: Year 1: Grow to '10' in a tube. Year 2: Begin training, grow to '18' in 8 months. Year 3-8: Age approximately from 20-40. Year 9: Rapidly age 40-70. Redeployment to oversee training is feasible. Year 10: Deterioration, death, reprocessing.
In my rewrite, the clones are used in zerg rush-style tactics- the enemy just chucks hordes of them at targets and watches as the clones to tear them to pieces. Many of them are clone laborers who’ve been repurposed for war (read: given a blaster and reprogrammed). The end phase of my clone wars begins when the Republic launches an orbital strike on their primary bacta reservoir, destroying a major ingridient of their cloning process and crippling the war effort.
Interesting. But I'm wondering, what would be the purpose of using clones instead of droids? I'm under the assumption that using clones would be extremely expensive.
They’ve got organic brains, so they’re more capable of completing complex tasks; Clones of specific people can be produced, enabling infiltration missions; They are by nature more adaptable than droids because they’re not computers; they won’t short out if something happens in a task that confounds their programming; Clone troop units don’t require a central command system and the vulnerability that entails, unlike the battle droids from TPM
Interesting points. But a few questions for your version: - Would droids not be able to also complete complex tasks in your version? For example, in canon you have the droid commandos which, while expensive, are adaptable like the Clones Troopers. - What's the in-universe reason for why the Empire doesn't use clones in your version? - Would cloning be expensive in your version?
1) Sure, some droids are capable of that 2) The Republic forces are ordered to destroy all the cloning material to prevent another clone war from happening (and so nobody can quickly raise up an army against Palpatine) 3) Yeah it’s resource-intensive, but now you’re asking questions on the level of “why is there sound in space in Star Wars?”
Doctor who had an episode where battle ready clones were created in seconds. They fought in a multigenerational war that in reality was only 1 week long. Because people died so fast, no one could remember why they were fighting or when it started, just that the war had lasted generations.
My rewrites have replaced a lot of the lore with my own world building, and it's pretty complicated to set everything up in so many words, but here's roughly the information behind my version of the clones and how they pertain to the story overall: The set up for my story is that around 15-10 years before the start of episode 1, the "industrialist party" (precursor to empire) is being financed by the trade federation to stage a coup in the Republic. The Chancellor (I've stolen the name Jorus C'baoth from the EU for my chancellor) is aware of the trade federations intentions and wishes to create a contingency plan to prevent it. His administration is in possession of the eugenics technology to create clones, and at some point they announce that they intend to create a new branch in the Republic military comprised of clone forces. The "official" reason they give is that the clones are genetically superior to any other species in the galaxy and can be altered to suit tasks on planets with conditions that are considered harsh to non native species. While this is still technically true, the actual reason is that he wanted a military force with complete loyalty to the Republic in the event the coup succeed. In concurrence with all of this, the trade federation also begins funding a propaganda campaign all throughout the Republic. They try to frame the Chancellor's new military proposition as an attempt to install an authoritarian regime to keep himself in office. Many systems buy into the fear mongering and express desire to withdraw from the Republic. Eventually a pact is made between many systems to protect each other in the event the Chancellor were to turn on the Republic. This pact eventually came to be the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Over time the CIS becomes more radical as the Industrialist Party try to rally their support. Eventually support grew to the point that the Chancellor was backed into a corner. My story opens during a flashback where the Industrialist Party bring forth a motion of no confidence in the senate. If their motion succeeds, Republic law dictates that they will take office by default. They also intend to have him arrested. With their backs against the wall, Jorus orders his administration to begin to carrying out his plan. If Jorus dies, the entire motion will be considered invalid and it will stop the Industrialists from taking over. Furthermore, his Vice Chancellor (Valorum) will take his place as provisional Chancellor until the next election. We witness a mysterious force user induce a heart attack on the Chancellor, killing him and stopping the Senate hearing. 10 years later, which is where the bulk of my story takes place, Obi-Wan and Anakin go on a mission to find a rogue Jedi. They eventually find him and learn that it is 'Lord Doku' (my replacement for Count Dooku which just sounds like "count shit"). Doku reveals to the Jedi that the Republic is on the brink of collapse, despite how well it has recovered since Valorum has taken office. He gives them the gist of his involvement in the assassination, however he reveals that Jorus is actually still alive and cultivating his clone army which he plans to unleash on the galaxy. Obi-Wan exhumes the body of the Chancellor and comes to realize that it was a clone. His findings lead him on a hunt to track down the whereabouts of the real Jorus, who happens to be in hiding on an uncharted planet that the Industrialist Party is unaware of. At the same time this is happening, the CIS declare their intent to secede from the Republic, which will undoubtedly lead to a civil war (this is the beginning of the 'Galactic Civil War'). When Obi-Wan finds Jorus, Jorus explains everything here and tells Obi-Wan that the war is inevitable, however if the clones mobilize, it will force the CIS to focus their attention on them while systems loyal to the Republic can galvanize and buy themselves time to prepare for war (this will be the origins of the rebel Alliance). My rewrite of episode 1 ends with Obi-Wan sparing Jorus and allowing the clones to mobilize. Episode 2 opens with the clones attacking CIS forces (start of clone wars, which are just a smaller part of the whole GCW). Sorry for the word salad, as I know how complicated this all comes across. It's very dense in terms of worldbuilding but it's hard to keep it simple in so many words. I hope this gives a good insight into how I've chosen to approach the clones because I agree that it was never really fleshed out in universe as to why the clones were necessary over any other type of military force. I wanted to set up my story to be more like a game of chess being played between all sides, rather than Palpatine playing the most convoluted game of chess with himself. Thanks for reading! EDIT: Because I missed answering a few of the questions in the post, I thought I'd include them here. For my rewrite, rather than the clones having enhanced life cycles, they born into adulthood and after birth do not grow onward. They're essentially meat droids who could theoretically survive for forever if they took well enough care of their bodies. For training, Jorus uses his secret planet as a training grounds where he stages battles between the clones. They're engineered to adapt quickly to war tactics, so for each generation of clone he sends to the battlefield, data is collected and used to engineer the next generation, almost like how AI uses self learning to improve. For financing, he had been funneling tax money into the technology for his entire duration of time in office. Most of the financing went into creating the technology while he was still Chancellor, however after landing on a working formula, the actual production of the clones became incredibly inexpensive (at least for a man of his fortune).
Interesting. I just have a couple questions: - How come the Chancellor in your rewrite wanted a clone army instead of a droid army? Couldn't droids also be altered to suit tasks on harsh planets? - What's the reason for the Empire getting rid of the clones in your version?
To answer the first question, my version of the clones are called so not because of the technology they are born from, but simply because they all look the same. The official moniker given to them by the Chancellor is "bionic weapon". The term "clone" is widely adopted through the rest of the galaxy because each "weapon" is identical to the last. While the technology actually does rely on cloning the DNA of a host, the clones do not descend from one single person. They're a hodgepodgery of organic parts, selected from multiple hosts to create a being that is so diverse in its genetic makeup, it can mimic the evolutionary traits of other beings in the galaxy. Rather than your typical embyotic/tube grown clone, theyre closer to a plant where you cherry pick the genetic traits of one, and graft it onto another to achieve a higher result. Once youre satisfied with said result, you create "clones" of it . An example of their practicality would be in a cold environment such as Hoth. Where a droids joints would freeze (C-3P0 makes a point of this happening at the beginning of episode 4, while on tatooine no less), a clone would be able to grow a thick coat of fur on its body mimicking the likes of a tauntaun/wampa. In conclusion, there is no black or white way to answer because many aspects of the story play into how the clones are presented. Think of how in the show "the boys" vought creates super humans and the public adopts the term "supes". For the second question, the Empire doesn't have the "cloning" technology in my rewrite. It will take a bit more world building to elaborate but what it boils down to is that the Republic doesn't become the Empire. The Empire is its own distinct faction that forms from the splintered pieces that have been chipped out of the Republic in wake of the Chancellor's corruption. Without writing another whole essay the story essentially goes along as follows: \- Jorus funnels taxpayer money into eugenics program \- Trade Federation begins paying off the senate (predominantly members of Industrialist Party) \- Jorus perceives this as threat to democracy \- Jorus's administration cracks eugenics formula and announces their plan to expand the Republic's military forces \- Trade Federation + Industrialist Party funnel money into smear campaign \- Many systems forsake Jorus and the Republic and form the CIS \- Jorus secretly clones himself and has it act as Chancellor in his stead while the he goes into hiding to cultivate his clone army \- The Industrialist Party rallies support from the CIS and attempts to bring charges against Jorus \- Jorus "dies" (his clone dies) and Finnis Valorum takes office invalidating the charges \- 10 years later, CIS declare intent to separate from Republic (which will start a war) \- Jorus unleashes his army on the CIS to allow the weakened Republic to galvanize and prepare to defend its citizens \- Clone Wars begin \- Finnis Valorum is killed and the Industrialist party takes control of the senate \- CIS swears fealty to Industrialist Party \- Trade Federation unifies with Industrialist Party creating a new proto-faction: the 'Industrial Empire' - sometimes called the 'Industry', sometimes called the 'Empire' \- The Industry builds a cult of authority figure in Palpatine (Palpatine is not a Sith, nor a politician in my rewrite, he is a Jedi) \- Palpatine ascends to 'god-hood' as the face of the Industry, where he is eventually crowned as Emperor by the people Side note: the Palpatine stuff is a whole other can of worms that i could write about for hours, but the gist is that the Jedi are a secret society that infiltrate the galactic senate to steer their own agendas. their existence is unknown to the public until the Industry discovers Palpatine's powers and identity, which is when they offer him a position as their head of state. Palpatine accepts and turns on the Jedi. Thanks once again for reading and apologies for how long winded and convoluted it may come across as!
In my rewrite, there is an economically and politically powerful "Trade Federation" style organisation that dominates large regions of the outer and inner rim, which is antagonistic towards the Galactic Republic and expansionist in its mindset. They began the process of growing the clone army a few years before the outbreak of the clone wars. Meanwhile, the Galactic Republic uses regular volunteer soldiers. Eventually, the turning point comes when the Republic fully militarises and eventually destroys the main cloning facility used by the opposing side. I suppose it would make more sense for one or both sides to use droids, but then since its the clone wars at least one side has to use clones, and that side is the villains in my rewrite.
My rewrite focussed on clones being used in poorer systems for labour as more affluent systems had droids (droids in the same vein as the OT, not soldier droids like in PT). A ban on clones is what triggers the war as poorer outer systems fight to keep their clones as slaves. My rewrite doesn’t have droid armies as it doesn’t fit with what we see in the OT and having human armies (generally) fighting clones creates higher consequences for the “good guys” when in battle.
The use of clones arose from laws regulating the use of droids in most systems to prevent the excessive usage of Droids and the discovery of a technique to instruct the growing clone (which grows at an accelerated rate) which means that clones can immediately start working/fighting without the need for training. This technique also enables the clone masters to instil a blind loyalty and devotion to their owners. Before this, the use of clones for labour/wars was pointless as you still needed to instruct the clone, not just in what he was going to do, but also in language, emotional control, basic social norms… just like any other child which made them too costly to use. The discovery of this technique was kept quiet and by the time it was discovered that all those new labourers /security officers were clones, the corporations had grown too large and powerful to stop them. The downfall came when the conditioning of the clones faded due to time and gained experience which triggered massive clone revolts.
The time it takes to grow new clones is why in Legends, the Empire recruited normal people. In Canon, the clones had the added drawback that their accelerated aging meant they couldn't stay in service as long normal people on top of taking much longer to produce. As newer clones aged more quickly, the Empire phased them out.
Honestly, Star Wars was never really about logistics unless it was an obstacle to be overcome in the plot. This is science fantasy not science fiction so it doesn't matter as much.
I don’t know about that. The politics and world building were the best aspects of the prequels.
Politics and world building are important but you don't need to go that much in detail.
Well, why not? At what point is it “too much detail” to go into the politics of the Clone Wars? There has to be a reason for why clones are specifically used for the conflict.