I was wrong about the Imperial Navy…

Absolutely loved seeing the Venators escort the ISD. It makes so much sense and really just complements the IDS and covers it's lack of Starfighters.

seeing an ISD flanked by 2 venators is honestly terrifying.

I think we can all agree an imperial star destroyer next to the venator is a sight to behold 😍

The biggest problem with the Star Destroyer is that it was designed by artists and not military minded people. Kind of in universe, to inspire fear, and out.

The mixed fleet is like having a sniper be guarded by an machine gunner, no one is getting pass that at any range

It’s about time you admitted it. Better late than never. Your humility is truly beautiful. Incredible actually.

Psychologically, the Venator seems like a firm hand - it could slap, it could punch, or it might not do either. The Imperial Class always seems like a hand fixed in slap mode, just shy of punch mode, and it almost has to do one or both.

Let’s be honest, the Venator is sexy. Stately, clean lines, it always looks good on screen. That’s reason enough to be a fan. Pairs well with a side of Secutor. Also, been going over some of the EAW mods, small craft superiority is king.

Honestly the Empire is lucky the Rebllion never got hold of Venators. The Rebels made great use of starfighters and hit-and-run tactics, I feel that the Venator would compliment their tactics greatly.

I compare a Venator and an Imperial Star Destroyer like two boxers: The Venator is an "out-fighter type" who has a long reach and relies mainly on the jab (short quick strikes) but can't take a lot of hits while the ISD is the "brawler-slugger" who has great punching power and a very strong "chin" (i.e. can take a lot of hits without being affected) but also has a very short reach. Basically the Venator is lethal at long range fighting but is highly vulnerable to up-close fighting so the ISD needs to get up close in order to do any real damage

to me, the perfect fleet core was always a mix of both ISD/Victory/Tector (especially Tector, funny how in legends they were introduced at the beginning of the clone wars) for a hammer and anvil strategy, with the battle line (think of it as the slow line of mighty dreadnoughts aligned at Jutland) being the anvil that protects the fleet and prevent the event of Venator carrier being overrun and also to break ships of the line and starfighter being the hammer, able to cut down critical points like shield and engine to make the enemy fleet break down upon the weight of the destroyers anvil. Obviously I tend to include picket lines of Arquitens/Lancer/Crusader to protect my own ships from a hammer tactic but that's it, a mix of both type of capacity, in 2 types of ships designed to do what they're going to do

The honest explaination is that it's far easier for their writers to make their villains stupid than to make their heroes smart.

Empire at War is a real-time strategy game set in Star Wars. The naval space battles are cool as hell because you actually have to build a balanced fleet. Tartan gunships are best at taking out fighters and bombers, Victory and Acclamator cruisers are your frigate defenses, Interdictors are specialist ships that fuck up the enemy fleet, and your Star Destroyers are the big bois that lay the smackdown. With mods, you can get Venators which are pretty great, but the Imperial Dreadnaught is the real fuckin' deal.

The intro of these videos keeps getting more exotic each day...

Honestly, everything you said made sense. Venators were simply stopped in manufacturing, and the Empire focused on building ISDs. Eventually, the Venator was rendered slowly obsolete as tools and parts made the ships unusable. However, there is nothing to really suggest that the Venator was completely retired, either. The same can be said with the Acclamator and the Arquitens Cruisers which were still being used as well. In the final SW Rebels episode, even the Dreadnoughts were still being used in the Empire, although most likely in a limited support role. Against the Rebel Mon Calamari, it's very likely the Venators would have struggled in battle as the tough shielding would have made the Rebel Cruisers hard to destroy. Most likely, the surviving Venators were simply kept in rear guard duty to help protect other Imperial worlds as the plethora of ISDs were thrown into the frontlines.

I have to admit, one ISD with 2 venators scort combo makes a lot of sense. Enough fighter patrols to keep the rebels away, enough firepower to pacify several star systems at once. But thankfully for the rebels, the imperial navy was too busy back stabbing each other and being consumed by sith A-hole energy and doctrine.

I like the idea of having an Allegiance-class Battlecruiser flanked by two Venators. Seems like a good combo.

It was nice seeing hints of the...transitional phase in regards to the Imperial Navy. The gradual implementation of the Tarkin Doctrine where the threat of force became a more potent (and cost effective) weapon than force itself. As you mentioned, with no real near peers to fight and the focus more on holding territory and subjugating fixed worlds, the ISD is pound for pound the perfect tool for the job. The "When all you have is a hammer" approach going a long way to quelling resistance and insurgency without firing a shot. Or enacting punitive reprisals against those foolish enough to challenge the Empire's might. So as the Outer Rim sieges wound down, the Venator would gradually be phased out. The introduction of the ISD marking the true final sign that the Republic of old was gone and the Empire now stood in its place.

No, thank you for the video, I never thought about the Venator still being operated in 5 or so BBY

I think the biggest problem was that the Empire never successfully created a true successor for the role the Venator fit. There were a bunch of different vessel types that captured parts of the roles the Venator filled but they never quite recreated the mix of strength of the Venator. If the Empire had been able to make a Venator-equivalent that worked with the TIEs and produced them in acceptable quantities to allow for them to be the primary escorts then the rebellion would have been in trouble. Imagine a Venator successor that had half the primary armament but a very good point defense setup combined with a hanger or multiple hangers that had twice or three times the capacity of the ISD combined with the dedicated control facilities similar to the Venator. The amount of both point defense and fighter cover it would bring to a formation would have been staggering and made small battlegroups very well defended against the tactics the Rebels preferred.