Lessons of Leadership
by Star Wars Republic Commando
Posted on: 02/27/2025 5 minute read
Introduction
Waking up from my 3 month gaming detox, one would imagine a return to a familiar game;
not a completely brand new one and definitely not one made in 2005.
Being the diehard Star Wars fan (excluding all the horrible Disney junk) that I am though, Republic Commando was on my wishlist for quite a while.
Despite the game being so old and not having been remastered or updated,
it still exceeded my expectations and provided me with a very enjoyable experience.
In this blog I will discuss my impression of the game (spoilers are carefully marked)
and the lessons I’ve learned from leading Delta Squad.
Built for Perfection - The Premise
You wake up only to find out that you’re in a jar of blue liquid. Aliens with necks the length of a 50 centimeter long PVC pipe point fingers at your body, inspecting their product for any imperfections. That’s right! You are RC-1138: cloned to be the cream of the crop and destined from birth to be the commander of the elite Delta Squad. You are superior to all your counterparts- utilizing higher quality equipment, receiving personal combat training, and ranking higher than your squadmates in a military setting.The game follows the theme of blind obedience. Much like how a student completes all of the homework a teacher assigns because they trust that it would help them advance in the curriculum, Delta Squad follows the orders provided by command because they trust that their contributions will be integral to the Republic’s Clone Wars effort. Not to mention, they’ll be killed for failure or disobedience. Lol! This relationship dynamic of leader and follower extends down to the structure of Delta Squad where your soldiers take orders from you alone
Full Control
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” I yelled as I ran into battle whilst looking behind only to find that nobody followed me. I was overwhelmed by enemies shortly after and had to be resuscitated. Why did Delta Squad not follow me into battle? Why did they not come save me while I was being swarmed by hordes of B2 battle-droids? It is not because the game is 20 years old, but rather that I commanded the Squad to defend a previous position and neglected to rally them again. Thus, the Squad “trusts” that I have left them there for a reason and remains on high alert at their designated location. With no doubt to my command whatsoever, Delta Squad loyally follows each order as they are given.The loyalty and specificity goes so far as to require the player to micromanage the squad. yourself, attack the droid, stop attacking the droid, stop healing yourself, blow that door up, blow that robot up, the list of commands go on and on. But the more I played the game the more I appreciated the ability to micromanage the tasks of my subordinates. After all, you can’t simply tell your Squad to murder a crowd of enemies. Some enemies are stronger than others and need to be prioritized. Else, your Squad is doomed to be wiped out. For in a school of fish, the shark knows not which to target and misses all. The Squad requires direction and leadership- which the player is to provide in its entirety. Thus the actions of your Squad are, quite literally, your responsibility.
The amount of control you have over Delta Squad is exhilarating. As the “brains” of the Squad, the player has to think of battle plans and ensure each squadmate fulfills their role. Thus the game assigns significant responsibility to the player. For my squadmates don’t think when I command one of them to charge into enemy fire alone; only trusting that their charge is intentional and that you will command the rest of the Squad to provide cover fire.
Breaking up the Work
Playing as the Commander of Delta Squad has made me conscious of my leadership decisions in the groups I lead. An example of this would be my role as the Captain of VRC Team 4253S. It would be absurd, no matter how skilled the team, for me to simply show them a photo of a complex robot and request that they build it for me. They will never match the specifications I desire because I simply was not specific in my request. A general statement to build a robot is not enough for a robot to get started because the team would not have a sense of direction. To approach such a large task, it must be broken down into smaller bits in order to make the task more feasible. In a robotics sense, this would mean breaking up the robot into smaller subsystems that each person can work on to achieve the common goal of building a complete robot.People Aren’t Soldiers- But They Should Be
“Our situation is dire! Assault the objective!”“No”
“What?”
“Why don’t you do it.”
⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️⁉️
Welcome to reality, where people may be defiant in completing tasks necessary for completing the objective. Imagine how difficult completing the game would be if every time a member of the Squad got injured, they immediately beeline for a healing station to preserve their own self interest.
“Stop healing yourself!”
“No!”
You shouldn’t even get to this part, but…
“Why?!??”
“Just wait, I'm almost done.”
And now, you have an eliminated Squad.
The role of every teammate is vital to the success of the team. Such is the exact purpose of a team: to achieve what an individual cannot achieve alone. In a world that minimizes failure, true team cohesion necessitates blind collaboration such that the team needs to function together, regardless of personal belief. This is not absolute, however. In the final scene of Republic Commando, the Squad makes a tough (and arguably, wrong) decision to abandon a MIA (missing in action) squadmate on a hostile planet. The remaining members of Delta Squad strongly voiced their opposition against an order to immediately withdraw without the MIA. The order came from a general in the Republic High Command, neglecting and missing important information regarding the Squad’s incomplete status. Officers from higher up in the chain of command are more disconnected from lower end soldiers and more focused with fulfilling the greater picture- in this case winning the war. Even the player- the Squad commander who agreed with the call to comply with orders- may be disconnected from squadmates who may have a stronger connection with the MIA soldier. A military-style team structure thus sacrifices humanity in exchange for increased productivity and fulfillment of the objective.