Kath Hound has become an increasingly dull server and I've almost about had it with the lack of Republic Activity so I'm thinking of Rolling a Trooper in hopes of a better roleplay experience, anyone think this is a better decision than staying?

I can't speak for LA, I'm on the Ebon Hawk, but good trooper RP is hard to find. The thing about it is that, to do it well, you not only need to know some lore and some basics of the Republic military (your codex will be a big help for that) but the profession of soldiering in general. You need to understand the dynamic between officer and enlisted, the relationship between soldier and the general public, and the (woefully understated) complex bond between a Republic trooper and the Jedi order.

 

For example; the Jedi rely on peace, on calm and keeping their emotions in check. A solider in combat relies on rage, fury, passion and fear to survive - all things that Jedi consider the dark side. Their job is to utterly destroy the enemies of the Republic: they are killers, through and through, but they are close allies of the Jedi knights. They go into war zones together, fight and die with each other.

 

You need to think: what battles have they survived, how many friends have they lost, how often do they get a break? What issues do they have, psychological or physical?

 

Trooper RP has the same moral ambiguity of the smuggler, but with aderance to military codes: tradition, honor, bravery and the horrors of what they, as beings without an aptitude in the Force, must endure.

 

So, for the reasons above, Troopers are, in my opinion, the hardest class to RP well. Well is the key word: anyone can be a dumb knuckle dragging grunt or a war hero General or the baddest of asses SpecForce soldier. To do it right is another thing entirely.

 

If you take nothing else from this post, for God's sake, just remember there is no such rank as Commander in the Republic military (it's a catch all term for a commanding officer - even the Republic navy uses Commodore) and if a civilian salutes you, do not return it.

You may want to check out Alpha Company on Jung Ma. Huge all Trooper RP guild, Ive seen some of their RP events, they had a ton of people and are very well organized.