Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones

A city-covered planet, Coruscant is the vibrant heart and capital of the galaxy, featuring a diverse mix of citizens and culture. It features towering skyscrapers, streams of speeder-filled air traffic, and inner levels that stretch far below the world’s surface. Coruscant was the seat of government for the Galactic Republic and the Empire that followed, and was the site of numerous historic events during the Clone Wars. It also housed the Jedi Temple and Archives, which hosted Jedi training and learning for over a thousand generations -- traditions that ended when the planet bore witness to Order 66.

Purged from the otherwise complete Jedi Archives is all evidence of the mysterious world of Kamino. A lonely world beyond the Outer Rim and just south of the Rishi Maze, few could have predicted that Kamino would become a key contributor to a massive shift in political power in the final days of the Republic. Kamino is a planet of endless oceans and storms. Few features mark its surface, save for massive stilt-mounted cities wherein reside the planet's natural inhabitants, the Kaminoans. From Tipoca City, the planet's Prime Minister rules. Lama Su closely monitored the operations of Kamino's most prized export: clones.

A harsh rocky world less than a parsec away from Tatooine, Geonosis is a ringed planet beyond the borders of the Galactic Republic. Its uninviting surface is made up of harsh, rocky desert, and the creatures that evolved on Geonosis are well equipped to survive in the brutal environment. The most advanced lifeform are the Geonosians, sentient insectoids that inhabit towering spire-hives. The Geonosians maintain large factories for the production of droids and weapons for the Separatist cause in the Clone Wars. After the Clone Wars, the Empire chose Geonosis as the construction site of the first Death Star, restricting travel to the system and sterilizing the planet’s surface.

Rugged, combat-equipped repulsorcraft, Republic attack gunships rained down blistering barrages of laser and rocket retribution against the droid forces of the Separatists. Each winged gunship was covered in weapons, offering air-to-ground and air-to-air support as well as serving as an infantry transport. The front of the gunship features hunchback-style cockpit bubbles, wherein the gunship pilot and copilot / gunner sit in single file. Chin-mounted on the craft are a pair of laser cannon turrets. On the gunship's dorsal surface are its primary armaments, two massive rocket launchers fed by a rear-mounted missile belts.

The infantry used by the Trade Federation had several major shortcomings that were carefully revisited by the battle droids' designers. From that research came the super battle droid, a bulkier, stronger, and more advanced version of the standard mechanical soldier. The super battle droid requires no overriding command signal to operate, and thus has a limited degree of independence. They are fearless and tireless, and will run at full speed into combat, their cannons extended, firing until they have reduced their targets to smoldering ruins.

During the last decades of the Republic, the Jedi order had replaced any need for a unified military for protection. Instead, private interests maintained their own armed forces in local territories, and the engines of commerce could afford the most powerful and most effective armies. Despite legislation designed to curb the potency of any one private army, the massive corporations were able to build sizable droid forces. The dwarf spider droids favored by the Commerce Guild appeared in the Separatist ranks. The four-legged dome-shaped mechanical arachnid featured a powerful, centrally mounted laser cannon.