Why Store 500 Million Credits in the Middle of Nowhere?

[@GenerationTech]

A lot of sharp eyed viewers are noticing the discrepancies between star-fighter prices vs real life fighter prices. So we're going to explain where this is occurring, that video will be up this Sunday 10/23 so subscribe and stay tuned for that

[@theothertonydutch]

@paladin danse You can't have a decentralized empire without a capital based on plundering and terror. Unless you're the mongols.

[@fangslore9988]

80 million can supply the rebellion with hundreds of factory fresh T-65 X-wing snub fighters as well as the T-65-b X-wing and other specialized versions if Mon Mothma can move vast sums of credits to the rebellion though unofficial channels which may take a lot of doing

[@nofuxgivens2797]

How often do imperials get to spend their 'money' I would also assume the Empire issues fiat currency. When you can gangster every resource for the Empire you can easily manipulate currency. Evidence is shown post Empire in The Mandalorian during payouts and contract negotiations. While Beskar is valued by Mandos above all for their culture its also one of the most rare and valuable resources. Moff Gideon being in charge of most of the black ops programs was able to sustain Empire Control in his domain through vast holdings of beskar

[@fangslore9988]

@@nofuxgivens2797 well beskar also happens to be crazy expensive because of how hard it is to mine outside of Mandalorian controlled worlds. currently no one has successfully mined it because of the sheer rarity and difficulty to mine. those small beskar tiles would have probably been valued hundreds of millions of credits per tile which shows how much the remnant forces were trying to obtain Grogu

[@nofuxgivens2797]

@@fangslore9988 moff Gideon purged mandalore and it's moon of mandalorians and their beskar. There is no more mining of the ore. In current cannon to my understanding the only beskar available is worn as armor, wielded in weapons and the rest is traded/horded as a precious ore

[@Philip-1]

It mainly comes down to what Vel said in episode 4: "Aldhani has the unfortunate quality of being close to nothing and not very far from everything." "It's the perfect hub for distribution if one were trying to take over the galaxy."

[@baronjutter]

Yeah there's a reason why there's random massive distribution hubs and intermodal facilities in seemingly middle of nowhere tiny rural towns, it's all about geography. It's also about land prices and general costs as well.

[@jon6309]

Similar to my home state Hawaii.

[@fangslore9988]

i'd be interesting if the money that was stored there would also be intended to be shipped off to Kuat Drive Yards to pay for the deathstar project since there may be other worlds like it in the sector and its perfect for off the books funds to Kuat Drive Yards to pay for the construction of the death star

[@davethepak]

Yeah, this was covered in the show - its not a horde for a project - it is the payroll for a huge area. Sounds like it was in a good place to distribute credits to playces that don't have the necessary banks or other financial infrastructure - troops and officers etc. in an outer rim area etc. No big mystery.

[@fangslore9988]

@@davethepak idk it seems like that 500 mil crdits is gorse underpaying especially since you need to cover the wags of storm troopers and local ISD officers as well as the people in the garrison, storm troopers at Alkenzi would be making 1500 a week so the math doesnt exactly line up

[@Obiwan7100]

It is mentioned in legends that the Empire spent quintillions on military research and also the richest man in the galaxy who was canonized in the canon named Bohhuan Mutdha has a fortune of hundreds of trillions of credits.

[@Krusesensei]

25.000 SD * 50k Crew for each * yearly pay of ~20.000 cr = 25 trillion 80 million is laughable. You can pay 1 StarDestroyer crew for

[@papalaz4444244]

@@Krusesensei This is why interstellar warfare is nearly impossible. How many inhabited worlds are within the Empire? 70 million colonies. If you had seventy million star destroyers that is only one per system. That's why the Death Star could potentially work simply as a threat. The 70 million Star Destroyers would need BILLIONS of trained crew.

[@jon6309]

Not surprising when an economic scale is taken on a galactic level with many planets that host diverse populations that accepts or agrees to an economic unit that measures value in the form of credits. Our population on Earth does not even measure up to the population levels of the Star Wars galaxy. Coruscant alone had a population in the trillions so it’s not difficult for beings to accumulate trillions of credits if they were able to profit one credit from each citizen on Coruscant alone. In fact I wonder how lottery payouts were like in those situations since trillions of beings can participate and chip in to large jackpots.

[@jon6309]

@@Krusesensei it’s possible the money was only used to cover the payrolls of nearby sectors. I agree that the amount is too small to cover the payrolls of the entire Imperial operation.

[@Krusesensei]

@@jon6309 you can pay~ 20k people with that money. The CITYSTATE of Singapore has an army of 50k... If cause that money is only for the pay of the neighbouring planets. But.. Also then it's a absurd small amount

[@nxcrobutcher]

to be fair on the officer who had a heart attack, its probably less about the manual labor and more about the immense stress knowing his wife and child are currently being held at gunpoint by criminals who have already killed numerous people in front of him

[@imperialpatriot6693]

And his most trusted officer being in on it the entire time.

[@cadenvanvalkenburg6718]

@@imperialpatriot6693 yeah literally everything in his life was collapsing and even if he survived he was going from high hopes for the future to almost certain to be executed

[@mathiasbartl903]

The Empire will remember him.

[@theGodfather5870]

That too, but I legit had to drive a friend to the emergency room who was a Marine for a long while and spent just 3 or 4 years sedentary before having to shift on a dime to intensive farm work. Sedentary life builds clots and plaque in blood, then immediate and hard physical labor shakes it all directly to blockage if not eased into it.

[@twilight_lupinesilva4691]

I doubt he cared about them that much.

[@Sweber1983]

They answered that question in the show: it was the quarterly payroll for the quadrant. Outside of lore, it’s a callback to old western Robert movies where the hero robs the Pinkerton Detective payroll to give back to the farmers and ranchers whose land is being seized by the railroad.

[@jenytails]

do they pay their employees with their equivalent of cash? i thought they wouldve had sum sort of electronic payment or currency

[@Krusesensei]

soo... they have 10k-20k people on the payroll. The CITY of Singapore has an army of 50k (excluding adminstration etc)

[@watcherzero5256]

@@jenytails It seems to be a combination of both, physical coins with unique numbers that can be used digitally. Probably useful in an interplanetary society that you can transfer money without having to physically move it between star systems while it can also be spent in places that lack the infrastructure for galactic banking. I believe the credit has a chip which stores its value and so you can add or subtract money from the coin if you have a galactic terminal.

[@jenytails]

@@watcherzero5256 so that would make them credit cards?

[@jenytails]

@Censored Opinions 👍

[@ohkaygoplay]

The pinpoint nature, intimate connection with the characters, the slow burn which lets you gain a history and investment, and tiny details of this show, the writing, the direction choice, and the acting are why I love this show so much. This is one I may go back and watch again.

[@theblimeypilgrim4492]

Honestly y'all, that 500 mil is probably just the equivalent of a cash cage at any theater HQ in reality. It's their "at had" discretionary fund to cover unexpected expenses, TDYs, funds transfers, etc.

[@baronjutter]

Given the prices of hyperspace capable fighters being only in the hundred thousand range, and massive capital ships in the millions, I don't at all buy the 1 credit = 1 usd conversion. I'd imagine a single credit would be more like 100, or more. Then again just the general balance of relative prices might be so alien to what we're used to. Basic costs of living and personal items seem to be extremely inflated compared to the prices of cutting age spaceships. But this is often a big problem with any sort of fantasy universe, they don't get an economist in to audit the prices listed for things because it's not really the focus of the writing.

[@fangslore9988]

i would say there would have been more then 500 mil there, they only unloaded 2 racks and there maybe 1 or 2 racks and it looked like there was 6 racks on racks per wall, the vault looked small so i would suspect there were other vaullt and as far as we know that base is in the middle of nowhere as Alen said, Kuat Drive Yards deathstar project would be a likely place the money was intending to be sent especially since the empire needed to make sure the credits sent to Kuat Drive Yards could not be traced to the emperor if the project ever became public

[@jimbojackson9975]

Like petty cash.

[@fangslore9988]

@@jimbojackson9975 petty cash is an understatement, 500 million isnt enough to pay for the ground crew, the 37,000 crewmen 9,235 officers and 9,700 storm troopers on board a standard ISD that would be patrolling the system. 500 million is probably a week's wage not a quarterly pay and it would make more sense to keep that kind of money on an ISD not on a planet

[@bennygerow]

"It was the quarterly pay for the entire sector"

[@austinsmith538]

Alright to be fair to the imperil guy in charge of the base, the heart attack wasn't just caused by his weight and the work he did. He was under immense stress as the rebels were threatening to kill him and his family, which probably made his chances of a heart attack much worse.

[@lerneanlion]

When you mentioned the phantom armies, Alan, I think that can also be used for other purposes such as exaggerating the rates of the deaths when an attack happened. Can you imagine the Rebels found out of this corruption and exploited by making it looked like a lot of Imperial troops died in one attack to the point that it caused chaos among the Imperial ranks?

[@vincenthernandez1646]

A very interesting idea.

[@WardenWolf]

The problem is the Empire had a near complete control on the flow of information. They completely controlled the holonet, which was the sole means of realtime intersystem communication, and only authorized entities were allowed to use it. As a result, the only way for unfiltered news to flow was via word of mouth from visiting ships. Basically, virtually no matter how big a defeat you inflict on the Empire, real or imagined, that information isn't reaching the Imperial troops who are safely sequestered away on starships and bases and only receive the news the Empire wants them to receive. It's virtually impossible to demoralize the Imperial ranks when they are kept completely unaware of losses in most cases. A person may become aware of the loss of a Star Destroyer if they were present for its destruction or someone they personally knew was on it, but otherwise the news would never reach them. Of course, towards the end it became increasingly impossible to hide that they were taking massive losses and losing, but at least up until Endor they were very capable of hiding their defeats.

[@lerneanlion]

@@WardenWolf And that is the point. When they heard of these unknown defeats, how much demoralized they will be? Or is it going to ended up fueling them with vengeance instead?

[@eddapultstab2078]

It would be a great avenue for psyops. The empire may control the media and thus the information but reports still need to be made, by picking targets who will over exaggerate damages to get more funding, the rebels can hit them again and aquire the swag. I can totally see an imperial officer reporting falsely that a gozante or two was destroyed and asked for replacements and two old and the additional new ships get swiped because the officer was incompetent and did not resolve the security problem.

[@lerneanlion]

@@eddapultstab2078 I agreed. The survivors needed to report what happened. But this also depending on whoever in charge as well. The trick is, however, to keep the leader alive. If the leader died, it will be up to the interim leader to make that report. If the interim leader wanted more money and power, there will be exaggeration for sure. The other option is that the Rebels can disguised themselves as Imperial officers after an attack and falsify the information to scare the heck out of the other Imperials as well.

[@jasonh5635]

It is possible that the navy has its own separate payroll system given its mobility. Maybe this was just for planet side personnel in the sector?

[@superdave8248]

Having served in a forward deployed naval ship, I can honestly say that yes, the ship kept alot of cash on board. I have no idea how much. And yes, this cash was specifically intended for unexpected expenses where cash had to be used in the transaction as well as cashing checks for crew members on board. But this hoard isn't for that purpose. It is most likely an emergency cash reserve.

[@fnunez]

As you said, 500M is not that much when you're dealing with entire star systems. It is possible that Aldhani is one of the rim systems and the reason the money is there is just because as small as it is, the Aldhani base is the biggest one in the entire quadrant. The rebel cell must have figured out they just don't have the time needed to steal a lot of money, so they picked Aldhani precisely because it is small and out of the way, making it easier to hit.

[@rexlumontad5644]

Banking Clan: "And we took it personally."

[@WolfeSaber]

If they still exist

[@yaujj65]

@@WolfeSaber They do, just under the Imperial jurisdiction. At least in Legends.

[@LakesideTrey]

In the clone wars Palpatine Nationalized them

[@Doofing_Cookies]

Hell yes

[@jamesricker3997]

The Empire did not want to leave Financial records for pay for that sector They were trying to hide something the size of a small Moon

[@DemiurgeDarkfire]

they literally explain it in the episode. they said aldhani is a distribution point and close enough to other secotors to deliver the credits more quickly

[@superdave8248]

This is Star Wars. You notice how many fighters have restrooms? No, you can travel to Tattooine in the time it takes to watch a movie. Speed in this case isn't a factor.

[@TheGamingSyndrom]

@@superdave8248 Yes it is? TIE fighters have no toilets because they are always in operational reach of a base or star destroyer. besides, i think we havent seen any toiletts theres a huge difference traveling with a type 2 or a type 0.5 hyperdrive crossing the galaxy could take days ot even weeks

[@rexlumontad5644]

500 million credits would give the growing Rebel Alliance a bit of a headstart to buy some weapons, vehicles and equipment along with maintaining basic supply and logistics.

[@Obiwan7100]

With that money it would be possible to buy more than 2,800 A-wings or even 4 Mon Calamari Star Cruisers

[@kurtwinter4422]

You're thinking like a consumer. Vast wealth doesn't get spent to buy things, its a tool to make life more difficult for consumers. Buy the factory the thing you want is made. Shut it down after you get yours.

[@macgyvervanschwartzenstall4662]

I feel like it isn't the money, it is the publicity

[@garavin]

Yes. Undoubtedly a lot of money to a nascent rebellion, but basically pocket lint for the Empire.

[@Y2Kr4SHM4N]

@@kurtwinter4422 Don’t worry, you might just get what you wish for. Agenda 2030. A Great Reset: You’ll own nothing and be (un) happy.)

[@L_egi]

hey I Allan, I just want to say how much I love your content (and the entire team to not leave them out)

[@crueldragon0]

It’s also possible the rebels knew they’d only be able to take the equivalent of the quarterly pay of the sector. My theory here being that that vault is the liquid cash to buy everything the empire needs in that area including but not limited to just the payroll.

[@axelrajr]

I imagine that imperial ships don't need much in the way of cash payroll deliveries so you can probably mostly eliminate them for your estimates. this cash would likely be mainly for the ground facilities and the like that interacted with locals. when i was in the navy, basic needs underway were handled, the only stuff on the ship we needed money for were luxuries (snacks mainly). so for the most part, the ship acted as a closed system with cash just circulating between the stores and vending machines through the cash office and into the ATMs. only time we had volume was for liberty ports and large amounts of local currency and US dollars were brought aboard for those who needed the service.

[@tenn_ore]

The fact that Allen is able to dissect this much information goes to show how deep the world building is. These videos are so awesome, they are one of the things I have on during the workday breaks.

[@mgc936]

Best starwars KZbin channel by commitment alone

[@danamoore1788]

Question for Alan. Was that the only vault? Because if it was just one of several, then the amount would be higher and it is disbursing for much more for the fleet.

[@johnpk5831]

When they first talked about a payroll heist, I was thinking something like the Serenity payroll heist not partially robbing Fort Knox.

[@garavin]

Me too. That heist had a lot of the same feel as the Serenity episode.

[@justindunlap1235]

Or an old western movie where they are going to rob the train carrying payroll for the army personnel in the area.

[@MolnarG007]

It would be logical for me to use digital credit sticks most of the time, if so these gold covered chips would only needed on non imperial worlds and backwater worlds not part of the galactic bank systems, and troops garrisons at those locations. Your thoughts?

[@rexlumontad5644]

1:37 They're going for a walk. A very enthusiastic walk.

[@NinjaTyler]

And killing homicidal vampire priests?

[@juliusbelisarius753]

keep up the good work. love your videos

[@kimwelch4652]

Keep in mind that in a technological society most payments are electronic. Most of the fleet is probably paid by direct deposit into interplanetary banks. The physical credits seem more like the pallets of dollars the US shipped to Iraq during the war. These were used to pay locals, to pay bribes and to pay support costs where no international bank or technological linkages were available (i.e., to deal with backwater economics). It should be noted that a lot of those dollars went missing and unaccounted for. However, most large ships would have a small amount of cash on board to provide local banking for the crew at ports of call where no interplanetary banking communications were available so maybe some of it did go to the fleet in the local sector.

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

“Spend the empire’s entire quadrillion dollar defence budget, on fucking my shit.” -Geuce

[@enderlionheart4497]

I may have missed it in the series, but was 500M max capacity? Or was that just what they had on-hand at the time? As like Alan said, 500M on a galactic, or even sector scale really isn't that much at all. No doubt there's policies something like a bank where there needs to be a minimum amount maintained there at all times, and there was a LOT more room in that vault.

[@superdave8248]

On a side note, the clone army went unnoticed for years. And was only discovered by the Jedi by accident. This was trillions of credits spent. And yet this expenditure went completely unnoticed. This was actually an issue I had with that storyline. It would be like Disney leaving off a line item or two on a quarterly report and then expecting the numbers to match at the end.

[@Raygo.]

Great analysis, fascinating and entertaining as always Alan. What strikes me though is how a story can start to fall apart if we look into the internal logic too deeply. I mean I wouldn't have expected a galaxy spanning civilization to be relying on vaults full of metal for a means of representing and exchanging wealth anyway. Even in our own time, hard cash is used less and less. There's places like Fort Knox full of vast amounts of gold to back it all up I suppose, but it's not even conceivable that a band of robbers could pull off a heist there or any similar location.

[@darwinskeeper421]

In spite of all the fancy whiz-bang elements like blasters and starships with some of the fastest interstellar drives in all of science fiction, the Star Wars franchise is full of retro elements. I wouldn't be surprised if the electronic transfer of money and credit/debit cards hasn't made it to the Galaxy Far Far Away. Another possibility is that if this level of banking exists, it may be restricted to the core worlds and that the businesses in the outer and possibly the mid rim aren't able or willing to deal with electronic money. A soldier or officer stationed in Aldhani's sector may need physical money if he or she wants to buy anything.

[@Anerisian]

Star Wars is basically set in the 1900s, plus/minus a few decades. It‘s retrofuturistic sci-fantasy, where almost everything is analogical to something that existed in a pulp version of history, including seances with ghost.

[@Acekhan201]

That stuff looked way too light to be metal. A single gold ingot from FK is about 27 lbs. Oh, and FK is the home base for a large portion of America's heavy tank forces, not just the gold repository. A closer American analog to Aldani would probably be Anchorage, Alaska.

[@garavin]

@@Acekhan201 Although Imperial Credits are some kind of metal, I don't think the lore ever states what kind. For all we know, it's constructed like a penny-- some lightweight core metal that's clad with something shiny and expensive looking. I suspect that, like most modern paper money or coins, they represent an ability to make good on debts, rather than actual precious metals.

[@papalaz4444244]

Cash is good on any planet with any tech level and anywhere in the galaxy. You don't need a bank account and it's untraceable. How would any bank be able to receive the telemetry of every transaction anywhere in the galaxy, in real time, accurately? It is also open to manipulation and fraud. Cash is universal.

[@abrahamtomahawk]

One of the great things about the location was that they filmed it in the Highlands of Scotland (the Cruachan dam is a real place). As a result, when Vel tells the story of the Aldhani people being cleared to the lowlands, she's pretty directly referring to the real Highland clearances that happened in these areas. I don't know for sure, but there's half a chance that the ruins you see where they are discussing it were where real people who were cleared from the land actually lived.

[@dalailambda9420]

My friend was on the support crew when they were filming up at Loch Awe! It could also be an analogue for when the english moved in and set up garrisons everywhere to repress/control/harass/occasionally massacre everyone (there's actually an old military road about 2km south east of the dam, and all through the Highlands), if the ruins are round and higher up the hills then they're probably just sheilings, not steadings like a tigh dhu

[@abrahamtomahawk]

@@dalailambda9420 yeah, sheilings are more likely. I was working up a hill near Loch Awe at the time of filming and could see the Cruachan dam. Couldn't see any TIE fighters though.

[@dalailambda9420]

@@abrahamtomahawk That's cool! My pal said that a leading actor or 2 (I don't know who exactly) were making demands that the A82 and A85 be widened so they could drive their big cars up more easily, diva demand's caught on camera is what I would've liked to see

[@abrahamtomahawk]

@@dalailambda9420 Good! Those bloody roads are terrible.

[@jeffengel2607]

The commandant's heart attack could have been from stress/terror as much as physical labor. He was under threat of death, and if he didn't die from the rebels, his superiors would treat him so much _worse_. Hell, if he could WILL himself dead at that point, it may've been his happiest plausible ending.

[@Don_Dilla]

Almost like he willed a cyanide pill - reminding you of other factions in history 🤯

[@christophernemeth421]

His family was also under threat of being killed as well. Also, the Empire needed bodies to run everything. If the commandant was suffering from a heart condition that could explain why he was assigned to low stress base

[@user-po8ri5pq9g]

Lol, that is quite possible

[@benkentucky4380]

It makes me wonder why part of the plan wasn't destroying what remains in the vault before leaving.

[@SupaSillyThyme]

thinking that aswell, especially when you consider thats like 3 more Star Destroyers, and sure the empire isn't gonna be hit to badly by that, but honestly why let them still have it?

[@melancholymaids3032]

dumping millions of gallons of water down, flash flooding a valley, and killing all the villagers who live down there doesn’t seem worth destroying what is essentially a small outpost, maybe a power station max.

[@SupaSillyThyme]

@@melancholymaids3032 dumbass he means the credits

[@benkentucky4380]

@@melancholymaids3032 oh wow, I meant just the vault. Like spike the remaining gold with some industrial chemicals from the base or at least collapse the vault room. Blow up the whole dam, that's ruthless.

[@baronjutter]

@@SupaSillyThyme The empire makes the credits. They just mint more, it costs them next to nothing. It could short term disrupt pay in the sector though leading to an uptick in disloyalty and grumbling staff. Destroying the money doesn't actually financially hurt the Empire though since the empire is in control of the money supply.

[@BobHerzog1962]

They tell us in the Episode. It is payroll money. The developers looked at real insurrections and thus at real Empires and occupying forces. Having the monthly / quarterly payroll brought in by a surprisingly little defended vessel and then stored at a surprisingly out of the way and not really well defended base until final distribution is something we see in real history a lot. And it comes down to logistics. You don't want to traffic or store the money in a hot area. But that is where you need your actual presence of military force to be. At the same time mere money is not as critical logistics as ammunition, food and so on. So you store it at a seemingly easy to hold position where no one expects it to be with an "adequate" force to guard it. Add in a vault deemed strong enough to hinder attempts to break in and your assumption of air and space superiority (so no one can escape anyways) and it is actually a sane spot to store the money. Unless someone is crazy enough to steal it in such a way that they can ditch you fighters. But that is impossible so why bother thinking about that.

[@tqlla]

Skeen underestimated the value of the sky crystal. its possible he is underestimating the value of the credits too.

[@michaelsargeant5923]

Every enjoyable. Thanks to you and team for the In depth detail 👍🇬🇧

[@KingCobraLolcow]

They stored it there because no one expected it and it was a hub world where it would be easy to transfer the money.

[@dekulruno]

That's what I figured it may be a small world but it happens to be in the middle of the sector... and there's lots of imperials to pay, 500mil isn't that much when you're talking payroll for a corporation with hundreds of thousands of employees in a sector.

[@jayhedgehog452]

Doing some math, the rebels got between 2-3 racks of credits. This works out to around 80 million. There were 5 bays a side, 2 racks to a bay. Assuming a rough total of ~40 million a rack, this brings as closer to a total of 800 Million credits. Not a massive jump, but that’s still the value of 2 Imperial-I Star Destroyers.

[@Alex-lc1bv]

3:10 Those carts definitley had wheels. You could see them clearly in a couple shots as well as hear them squeaking.

[@arctic_haze]

Actually Andor and friends did break in to a local version of Fort Knox, a place so remote and obscure, the imperials believed no one would be actually interested (or stupid enough as Andor noticed) to attack.

[@IsaacKuo]

Jayhold literally says to his son, "You'll make an effort tonight if it kills you." No seriously. He said that. 12 minutes into the episode.

[@yvonnesmith6152]

I’d really love to know why an entire payroll for a whole sector was stored in cash form. Did the Empire not have banking capabilities akin to ours? These quarterly pay hubs certainly would invite heists like that, or as you mentioned, the upper brass skimming off the top. None of these physical credits are traceable?

[@sanspeter9925]

pretty sure digital banking doesn't exist in star wars

[@dudewaldo4]

Ikr it's crazy. Makes no sense except to provide something to be stolen by the main characters. We see people communicate across the galaxy instantly. There is a central authority imposing its power on the entire galaxy which could administrate it. It is inexplicable that digital money would not exist.

[@sanspeter9925]

@@dudewaldo4 We have literally only ever seen physical currency in Star Wars, and it fits the world better that there is not digital currency

[@Philipp3022]

@@sanspeter9925 if i recall correctly they introduced a digital form of currency in Bad Batch in which only imperial credits based on a digitial ID for each citizen would have value and replace republic, separatist and other currencys. doesnt mean that on rural systems physical currency could be still the main thing or the transition wasn't finished. also in the banking clan arc in CW the payment and loans are all digital stored in the banking clan vault. not a sign the currency is digital but its at least digital documented. there are pro/contra for the story writers to introduce such a tool. and if they do they need to balance it somehow because a digital currency is more centralized and therefore harder to steal for rebels which rely on it :p

[@sanspeter9925]

@@Philipp3022 they introduced chain codes, these are *not* a currency, they are a form of ID, people had to get a chain code to convert their physical republic credits to physical imperial credits

[@ahsjile7273]

Love the costumes, wish I had one

[@OnBrandRP]

I think the idea was that since it's in the middle of nowehere with decently high defense, the imperial intelligence probably assumed no one would look for 500 million credits in the literal middle of nowhere.

[@Paul-vf2wl]

Being in the middle of nowhere also makes it easy to track any getaway unless you have the cover of a rare atmospheric event to cover your getaway.

[@joserubenrodriguezfuentes]

The Empire never Thought about Digital Cash Blockchain Technology xd :P

[@nottonyhawk123]

it makes sense that Aldhani is a small sector with only a few garrisons with, I think only 1 ISD with a small support fleet. Conducting a heist on a larger sector would mean a potentially higher payout, but also a much larger Imperial response, potentially getting an Arquittens or larger on your tail. A small sector would mean an easier exit, and by your spreadsheet, the 80 million they made off with can fund a very well equipped cell

[@BD-yl5mh]

Considering they don’t even fully empty this vault it makes targeting it make more sense too. There might be vaults 100 times the size elsewhere but they probably have response times faster than 9 minutes. No point breaking into a vault with a higher capacity if you can realistically steal even less of it whilst you’re in there.

[@nottonyhawk123]

@@BD-yl5mh exactly. Going after anything else would be like trying to rob Fort Knox with only a minivan

[@fangslore9988]

with 80 million the rebels can buy 500 T-65 X-wings

[@nottonyhawk123]

@@fangslore9988 yeah, I saw his spreadsheet that he made

[@fangslore9988]

@@nottonyhawk123 i think this is how the rebellion payed for the X-wings

[@indigdoc]

It's a great spot for a Logistics Hub. No one would look for money in such a non-descript place. Philip 6 hours ago It mainly comes down to what Vel said in episode 4: "Aldhani has the unfortunate quality of being close to nothing and not very far from everything." "It's the perfect hub for distribution if one were trying to take over the galaxy." 35 ▼

[@TheIceGryphon]

Oh my gosh, love it. You did the math and thought of logistics. You play table tops?

[@chrisplumb4284]

It's the kind of planet that would've ended up with the prefix 'Ord' in the Republic era - i.e. a useful junction/staging area in hyperspace travel terms and given the status of 'ordnance/logistic/ storage' for other areas -such as Ord Mantell or Ord Pardron.

[@hemaccabe4292]

They said in the show, it was a good distribution point.

[@johntorreto4485]

If your base is the prime logistical hub for the entire sector and has 500 million in cash.............. Don't EVER skimp on your security!!!!!! That base better be more fortified than Hoth

[@HolyknightVader999]

Some bastard could buy ten Victory-II-class Star Destroyers with that money.

[@RX552VBK]

BTW, was that Art Malik as the Commandant? I haven't seen in him in few years (The Living Daylights and Jewel in the Crown).

[@Cwronaga216]

One thing I find interesting about the Star Wars universe is that even though the credit is worth about the same as a US dollar everything is considerably cheaper on the higher end. A military-grade Starfighter costs about the same as a high-end Supercar here on Earth but an Imperial Star Destroyer cost less than some of our military-grade Fighters. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that the technology of the Star Wars galaxy has made high-end military-grade Tech so common that it's like owning a sports car so the higher up you go in technological advancement the lower the price Gap gets. Based on prices in the Star Wars universe a single country here on Earth could fund a large portion of the Imperial War Machine. In the Star Wars Universe food and smaller Necessities may be around the same price but the larger more expensive things are actually relatively cheap by comparison making smaller pay for military personnel make decent sense because they don't actually need that much especially since based Necessities would be provided

[@bensaret]

One of the most significant results of the theft wasn’t just how much the rebellion could fund itself with the money, but also take into account that that money is not going to imperial projects or salaries, so it hits twice against the empire, which I think is awesome. If the rebellion truly wanted to do some damage, they should have left times explosives with the remaining money that they couldn’t take.

[@fangslore9988]

i agree Incom would still need to get a quarterly pay and the rebellion had money they stole and Incom was probably aware of who their cliants are and gave the rebellion an exclusivity deal selling Incom products to the rebellion as long as the rebellion kept paying and the rebels probably payed for their ships in bulk to keep the prices affordable and Incom was smart enough to not ask any questions about how the rebellion got the money for the ships they used. Incom also showed that their star fighters were superior to Kuat Drive Yards standard issue tie fighters by a large margin which would obviously raise their stock prices quite a bit on the galactic market. and the empire missed out when they canceled their deal, their loss lol. Incom star fighters probably are arguably the best in the open market

[@kenknowlton3085]

The bullion depository is in Hardin County, Kentucky, just outside Radcliff. Great big middle of nowhere. It's far more secure than this vault but seclusion is part of security.

[@dshock85]

Could be something where they keep it moving between different locations before pay out or like Andor said the empire was so confident they never think anyone would steal from them.

[@macgyvervanschwartzenstall4662]

You made two contradictory points. You noted that this was an outpost in the middle no-where so Senators like Mon Mothma would keep their prying eyes away by comparing to Scarif @1:15. Then, @4:11, you argue that it is in a good, central location for distribution, giving easy access to the rest of the sector--and that means "any Imperial convoy" would stop here, making it very accessible to prying eyes of the Senate. That access is further increased by the number of hyperspace routes you mentioned.

[@NinjaTyler]

Plus his idea of what a good military wage was off, 1,000-3,000 a month? That's like minimum wage at best

[@macgyvervanschwartzenstall4662]

@@NinjaTyler there military getting paid minimum wage (or worse) isn't hard to believe. There was a point in my service where soldiers qualified for food stamps

[@NinjaTyler]

@@macgyvervanschwartzenstall4662 I'm just going based off what we've seen in other sw media but this also is 15 years in so I guess the pay could've gotten worse overtime now that they've got a large enough military they don't have to worry about incentives outside doing your part for patriotic purposes

[@macgyvervanschwartzenstall4662]

@@NinjaTyler I would even say "the only military"

[@mosheleibtag6560]

Love the content firstys

[@mrmaverick007]

Lol you were second

[@chrisdobson4597]

@@mrmaverick007 so they put out new videos everyday

[@AGrumpyPanda]

The pay being stored here probably goes to garrisons and administrative staff, not star destroyers. The ships likely either take on their payroll at the start of their deployment, refreshing when they return to base to resupply, or the crew receive a portion of their pay for shore leave and then get the full value when that deployment ends.

[@isaackim7675]

You can definitely how they don’t take security seriously enough given to how several of those officers were playing that version of Sabbacc or whatever that card game was

[@fangslore9988]

i agree, the base looked as if they were trying to hide the credits not have it for public distribution which is probably why most of the base was under the water. and the base looked to be a simple garrison on the outside

[@mawortz]

if you thought having a single currency for so many different countries and economies in the EU was hard, imagine having a single currency for hundred of different planets and its not even digital XD

[@jalpat2272]

Well digitalization of money ain't easy things on one planet let alone galaxy and some more independent (backward) planets have their own currency like mon cal and tattooine.

[@xxCrapNamexx]

Star Wars doesn't need ugly wookie nfts.

[@SupaSillyThyme]

actually it is

[@dudewaldo4]

It's hard to suspend my disbelief honestly, there is no fucking way it wouldn't be primarily digital. Entire payroll for a GALAXY with heavy ass gold bars or whatever they are? Just ridiculous

[@imperialpatriot6693]

Star Wars has been shown to have digital currency but in some places that is not preferable.

[@cmcb7230]

I find it hard to believe the empire doesn’t have direct deposit for its troops. I joined the USN in 1998 and it was mandatory for us to have DD to get paid.

[@TheIronHip]

3:16 “levitating carts, they don’t even have wheels” except they forgot to edit out the wheels (unless they’ve already gone back and fixed it by now) or is it a different, regular cart at 4:52

[@gidion1235]

those are weel carts 4:51 shows it, just one small mistake i think, but great video

[@Siryphas]

It's also possible that this payroll was simply specifically Imperial Army payroll and Navy and Stormtrooper payroll is paid from their own branches. It would make much more sense that 500,000,000cr is only for one branch in the region.

[@purdunetae2995]

I would imagine most get paid by "direct deposit" into bank accounts. In low tech level areas I could see them paying some or maybe all of the pay in hard currency. They said this was the pay for the entire sector but that could be partial pay. They could opt to take a portion of their pay in direct deposit so family can access it and the rest in hard currency so they can by local services and items.

[@paulnaughton9923]

I did some math, because we have various sources to give us a rough estimate to the number of troops, crew, and so forth that are in an imperial sector. Using the smallest ships and an unaugmented sector army from the Imperial Sourcebook to give total numbers... then put the average monthly salary at the average value of 1,500 credits a month (derived from RPG sourcebooks). I ended up with a total monthly payroll for a single imperial planetary sector group as being an absolute minimum of 2 Billion Credits. 500 million credits, is just about enough to pay everyone's salary for just a week.

[@fangslore9988]

thats if the money was there to cover their wages, i suspect the credits were not intended for paying officers rather being shipped elsewhere i calculated that if Aldhani was a stoping point for off the book money shipments and there was a dozen or so on other worlds you're looking around 6 billion credits at least which i suspect is intended for the death star project

[@tucker0214]

Hello there friends welcome back to another episode of Generation Tech my name is Allen

[@howardhowe3453]

What is the credit made of? If the local damm is where they store the end product of the mining and minting process before being exported?

[@8teillumin]

Phantom armies…… this was the base is for a “Sharpe” film from the 90’s where Richard Sharpe is trying to find the lost 2nd Battalion… it’s an intriguing plot point of how deep the corruption goes in the Empire

[@ecksdee1149]

I just wanna say that if you look carefuly, if the river was still there then the aldani stone shrine or whatever its called would be underwater, right?

[@chrisstetsko5020]

Two Words: Fort Knox. was chosen for its location behind the mountains (less vulnerable to air attack), the military support from the base, and it was nearly 1,000 inland into the continental United States.

[@triskelworkshop2855]

Oban, Scotland, Cruachan Dam Let's get those credits

[@adamallen7070]

Coudint it also have been like how Roman towns popped up around forts holding a legions pay? I mean London started that way. A legion guards a fort with its pay and people settle around it, it attracts workers, craftsmen, architects, engineers farmers and artisans. Perhaps this was a cost effective way of supporting growth on the planet

[@honkgooster]

I feel that 500 million credits would be better guarded. It still was guarded fine but I still would expect a little better for 500 MILLION. Though now that it was compared to how much people it would pay it doesn’t seem like near as much as before I finished this video.

[@nxcrobutcher]

it was pretty well guarded, the crew only managed to succeed because they had a high ranking insider and uniforms, and even then half the crew ended up dead

[@Agherosh]

The Empire is too proud and as said by the Rebels themselves, noone would dare do that shit.

[@0megacron]

They said what it was in the show - payroll currency for the garrison & workers who were arriving to build the new facility.

[@MrBradleyPants]

I got the impression watching Andor that the most coveted tactical commodity was not ships that could travel light speed or weapons, but comms.. Was this because the empire had such good surveillance or is it because of the time that the star wars universe was conceived, they could not imagine the internet or the kinds of tech we have today?

[@HolyknightVader999]

The Empire cannibalized the holonet tech, so they can monitor everything you post on the web.

[@calebbarnhouse496]

Well ships that go light speed are common in starwars, to the point some ships have backup hyperdrives on the off chance the primary one breaks, and you can get a replacement part in a junkyard, weapons are incredibly useful, but who will you buy it from? The factories are owned by the empire, you can at best get black market weapons, or bribe imperial officers for it, either way it ain't cheap, while good comms would put them on equal footing to the empire on a tactical level

[@randallsanchez3161]

During the age of sail/cannon they countries would regularly send out at least a years worth of money, operating costs, plus flex expenses to a single garrison. If the garrison was a hub they would hold a much larger amount of actual money to divy out to local areas. This was in case an area became blockaded or there was a heavy enemy presence that would intercept the pay. This allowed them to be self sufficient up to a certain point. So having that much cash on hand would make sense. Although I would be surprised that they didn't have some form of digital currency to pay their troops like we have now.

[@xxxxxxg5302]

Finally found your page i love your channel

[@kaioken654]

Can you explain what the point of that back pack ARC troopers wear is?

[@jarrodbeckham7072]

Great video

[@CobblestoneJoe]

You say that the carts levitate and shouldn't require that much force to move around but I'm almost sure that I saw some wheels under the carts in a quick shot during the heist. It might've been a cinematography/lore mistake or they might just have wheels. 4:52 in this video actually shows the wheels.

[@ShadowReaper-pu2hx]

Probably an oversight by Disney editors, but if not, maybe it has wheels AND hovers.

[@korakys]

Most pay is probably done electronically and this is just bit the troops need for their local economy interactions since galactic bank networks don't reach everywhere. Beer money you could say.

[@anthonyhibbert5219]

With such a wide-spread operation - the empire should look into direct deposit for their employees. The savings in payroll could help them fund more death stars

[@DavidisWarpd]

Pay roll for parts of the sector without galactic banking facilities. I.e. back waters like aldani or tatooine?

[@jarrodbright5231]

The other point I'd raise from this analysis is "how dependent was the Rebel plan on getting the entire 500 million?" You went into analysis of what 80 million could buy; what could 500 million buy for the rebels? Were Luthen and Mon Mothma counting on them being able to access something closer to that amount and will there be consequences of not getting out with the full haul?

[@fangslore9988]

well the rebelion had to fund themselves some how, Incom didnt just donate T-65 X-wings and U-wings to the rebellion because they felt bad for them, the rebellion used stolen funds to buy from Incom, and i'm sure Incom probably cut an exclusivity deal with the rebels cutting the costs for large orders (a bulk package deal if you will) and Incom got a profit from supplying T-65 X-wings, T-65B-X-wings, U-wings, air speeders and other Incom ships as well as probably selling all the parts to modify the ships they supplied in bulk. the Xwings costed around 150k credits and Incom probably supplied 100 X-wings for 250k credits as a package deal for the rebellion along with a regular order of parts and replacement pieces as well as technical manuals for engineers to repair the ships

[@Miss_Trillium]

Keep in mind, mon mothma had issues moving just 400,000 credits around. While she likely has access to several million, the 80 million would probably double (or more) whatever the rebels had in their koffers at this time

[@fangslore9988]

@@Miss_Trillium mon mothma may not have that much but she's trying to move credits around to fund the rebellion, they need blasters ships and supply chains to ensure a stable supply of food and other necessities but also other supplies like Tabana gas for blaster fuel cells. the rebellion is only still an infant, and yet to be an alliance

[@Miss_Trillium]

@@fangslore9988 oh I know, I more mean that while it really is a negligible loss to the Empire, it would be an incredible gain for the rebels to have 80 mil on hand for those listed things (fighters, food, etc)

[@fangslore9988]

@@Miss_Trillium the rebellion does need a lot of resorces and i hope we get to see rebel leaders negotiate sales with Incom for X-wings and U wings and air speeders

[@dekulruno]

Maybe the pay for the sector only counts planetary forces and the navy pay is separate? Because yeah that barely covers a couple star destroyers...

[@fangslore9988]

there looked to be 100-150 imperial general army soldiers in the garrison with storm troopers housed at Alkenzi so it just doesnt make sense and 500 mil is not even enough for a new air base because of how much tie fighters cost and the equipment to dock them

[@2kidsnosleep]

I would suggest they use payroll direct deposits or even e-transfers perhaps in the future.

[@Chisszaru]

I wanted to be apart of Andors heist crew. I know Star Wars is a fictional thing, but still. I would help them empty up that entire vault and then join the Rebel Alliance, just because i want to, and because i want to fight

[@Chisszaru]

@@captainhydra4291 you're cringe? Good for you, Cringe-worthy shitbag

[@dudewaldo4]

There are evil moneyed institutions in real life

[@OdariArt]

Question... do Storm Troopers take shore leave or vacation time?

[@gunargundarson1626]

Politicians and CEOs: "Why on Earth do I need an off-shore bank account to hold my millions?"

[@theorn01]

I'm wondering if any of the Andor characters will end up taking a post on the 1st death star, at the end of season II

[@Spectacular_Insanity]

A lot of Outer Rim planets and sectors barely have a fleet at all. For instance, Bakura (on the edge of Wild Space, barely considered Imperial at all), didn't even have any Star Destroyers. Their strongest ships to fight off the Ssi-ruuk invasion were a Carrack-class light cruiser, 6 Corellian gunships, 3 Marauder-class corvettes, and a handful of patrol craft, along with a wing of TIEs. The Empire didn't have anywhere close to the forces needed to patrol these sectors regularly, much less the needed manpower to police them thoroughly. It's not surprising that crime and corruption were rampant in the Imperial era.

[@onrean]

In the real world, banks will often only keep 10% of the cash in their vaults as reserves and have the rest as money loaned out. If that is the case here, these 500 million physical credits could represent 5 billion credits of assets and other loans.

[@alexc4426]

I would assume the star destroyer crews get paid separately because they may be deployed elsewhere as needed. The pay likely is just for planetary outposts.

[@TwilightSatium]

is that a film? is that a series? where is that from?

[@Philmoscowitz]

Another good analysis. The thing I wondered about is why the credits are material. Doesn't the Star Wars universe have digital credit?

[@Paul-vf2wl]

Same reason they don't have facial recognition software

[@Philmoscowitz]

@@Paul-vf2wl ???

[@CoryDAnimates]

I think it hurts the sectors credit rating. I assume the empire back a portion if not all it credits with 'gold' or what ever was in those containers. Taking something of that amount would cause an insurance and interest spike for the leverage on what was physical to the vault to the borrowing power to effectively finance the sector.

[@Flippokid]

I like how they have spaceships, hyperspace and ligthsabers but nobody thought to invent Venmo or Paypal.

[@taxibaanyoutube9156]

makes sences: There is no better security thing than being undected.

[@itsachucky]

I think the rebels were wrong about the vault being the quarterly pay. I think this was a cover for them stocking up resources for the death star project. The empire would need to siphon.off lots of money for that project.

[@fangslore9988]

this is my suspicion too, there's just far too many credits and Aldhani isnt a large system, its mostly backwater with a human population who gave up their tech for a peaceful life for what an imperial garrison? they said that its too far from anything but close to everything which leads me to think Aldhani is just a stoping point for imperial funds, the Aldhani garrison base looks to be specifically built to hide the money rather then act as a secure holding area or to be a pay distribution point

[@Philipp3022]

@@fangslore9988 if its considered its really just the quarterly pay reserves - and the planet like said isnt near anything relevant but also not that far from relevant systems of the sector it was maybe also just a arrogant logistic decision by the empire. a system which nobody suspects but has the most favorable location to relocate the credits for their use without spending a big amount of credits for securtiy for the storage. i dont think some kind of black budget funds is ruled out to be hide there by the empire but if so i dont think palpatine would risk deathstar stuff with this kind of "low" security on such a planet. it would be interesting to know where exactly that planet is located for the deathstar thought and how far it is away from any kyber crystall planets and geonosis (where the first deathstar was built) - but interesting thought anyway

[@fangslore9988]

@@Philipp3022 it makes sense that the funds the empire doesnt wish to be on the books and backwater worlds make sense but it is entirely possible that the funds held there was not the entire fund either, likely they would have waited for follow-up fund shipments. the death star project being funded this way is also logical because the empire needs quadrillions of credits to vanish to fund the death star project. if this was secretly a pay package for the death star project it would be likely they waited for other credit shipments to fill the vault first. that being said we dont know the full extent of the credits in the vault and the quarterly pay thing has not really got anu substantial evidence but it was clear the credits wernt going to be stayiing at the base since they already had a hyperdrive capable transport in the vault room ready to be launched which is sus 500 million credits should have been loaded on an imperial shuttle or an ISD. plus, if the empire was smart, they would blame the credits they made vanish for the death star project look like heists by rebel cells. the secrity also happens to be where it is and the fact they built that section under the water as if to be a hidden part of the base. the empire probably felt that a base in the middle of nowhere (literally a back water garrison) was just too lowkey and insignificant and thus would normally be ignored. the emperor left a lot of vaults and cashes on backwater worlds that were just seemingly so unimportant that they were left alone. most people who enter orbit would find a small garrison and an air base but nothing important to attack. this literally is the emperor's go-to for important things

[@Philipp3022]

@@fangslore9988 like said definitly a interesting thought/theory. that the empire would try to hide the funding in such a way or smiliar makes sense for sure. im looking forward if they built in this world-building direction in some kind that the rebels didnt knew it wasnt some regular cash-vault but a hidden black budget hub (which not even must be the secret death star but maybe even some other secret project) - they finally successfully have very big world building which leaves much space to explore in such directions and that it likely will be told from perspective of a ISB investigation is very cool :D

[@fangslore9988]

@@Philipp3022 i also wouldnt put it past them that a part of the budget and any extra credits the empire would stash away would also be for operation cinder satellites because the emperor is well aware that he may lose and he is a "if i cant have something then no one can" type the military budget is vast and have better means of protecting it then just hiding it in sections of a garrison that you cant see in orbit or from land and sky

[@MinedMaker]

Considering the roughly 1=1 conversion rate, it seems really bizzare to me that an x-wing which is essentially a high-tech military fighter would cost only 150k credits. Seems absurdly cheap. Like you could buy a TIE/sk x1 air superiority fighter for 50k which is a couple years wages for a normal grunt soldier. The Saab JAS 39 Gripen which is a cheap modern fighter costs 60mil.

[@MinedMaker]

Granted, there is a lot of bloat/admin overhead costs in our liberal society that might not exists in an authoritarian empire, but the disparity is still huge.

[@GenerationTech]

we’ll be addressing this in sundays episode