Logistics
The production figures and initial size of the army raises the question of how all the clones were fed.  A solution appears in Republic Commando: Hard Contact – clones are placed in suspended animation.  This is supported by The New Essential Chronology, which states that the Republic as delayed by the time it took to “activate” the clones.  If normal clones were simply grown in a matter of weeks and then placed in suspended animation there is no conflict; Earth alone is estimated to be able to sustain a stable population of 9 billion, with the total resources of the solar system capable of sustaining several trillion.  Kamino, being a water world 1.5 times bigger than Earth (Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds), would be able to sustain a greater population (water sources are also rich sources of food), and their higher level of technology would make housing easier.  “Faber” technology that can convert any product to food is known to exist (The Essential Guide to Droids).   Indeed, if nothing else they could simply clone foodstuffs.  And this is only for the clones active at the time.  Food is not the only restriction though, and the situation becomes much more complicated when the clones are removed from a stable training environment and deployed across the galaxy.  While conducting active operations soldiers consume massive amounts of supplies, with the typical thumb rule being 100 pounds per soldier per day.  This translates to 45 kilograms (kgs) that must be produced, shipped, and delivered to each soldier fighting every day.  The requirements for support vehicles are even greater.  This is why in modern militaries the “tooth to tail” ratio is almost 10 to 1, and expected to continue to grow. (Digital Soldiers)  Shipping would not be a problem.  While the powers that backed the Confederacy were key players in the galactic economy and their departure triggered a recession (Labyrinth of Evil), they were not the only ones.  The Galactic Corporate Policy League remained loyal to the Republic (Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook) and included such massive conglomerates as TaggeCo, the Karflo Corporation, and many others.  The issue would be directing the supplies and having effective quartermasters.  As every being in a clone trooper unit is also fully trained to fight rather then specializing in non-combat logistics (The Imperial Sourcebook) the supply train would have to be manned by droids, civilians and non-clone conscripts.  This is exactly what we see in the Revenge of the Sith Visual Dictionary, Republic Commando: Triple Zero and Jedi Trial, and is a distinct advantage for the Republic – they can simply use their civilians to manage such procedures, but the Confederate powers have long used droids in their day-to-day operations (The Phantom Menace Visual Dictionary).  Thus they must divert a portion of their trained soldiers away from a combatant role to a logistical one.  This allows the Republic to commit greater forces to the field of battle for a similar investment, and allows them to effectively fight even if the total number of opponents is greater, provided the number of combatants is similar.
Return to Main