system
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human
[Star Wars] What happened to all the Republic-era technology by the Age of the Galactic Empire? Why would some areas of the Empire have better tech than the bulk of the Imperial Navy?

I know this has been covered before with suggestions such as the Watsonian "The Empire made cut-backs and went for a more minimalistic and practical level of technology across the board" and the Doylist "The original trilogy was made decades prior when effects and budgets were inferior", but is that really all there is to it? Would the entire Galactic Empire regress instead of incorporating the Republic and Separatist assets into a *technologically superior* armada?

The discrepancy I also touched on in the title is that in Rebels we can see that some parts of the Empire (notably the Imperial forces that the crew of the Ghost run into most often) are higher tech than the average Imperial forces, with equipment and ships that harken back to The Clone Wars and what the Republic held rather than the blander Imperial resources we see in the original trilogy. Why would these Imperial deployments around places like Lothal dealing with smaller Rebel factions have this kind of "midway Republic/Imperial" equipment and technology while the bulk of the forces we see at the Battles of Yavin, Hoth and Endor seem to be the "cutback Imperial economy" level stuff? Is it just aesthetics or were the Empire only able to get the more basic Star Destroyers and equipment in time to face the Rebellion at these events (perhaps with the more unique ships and seemingly superior versions occupied elsewhere)?

I'm also aware that the Galactic Civil War has been extremely tough on the Galactic economy (well besides for ship-builders, arms dealers and smugglers) which could contribute to areas looking more dilapidated and run-down. Were any areas in the Galactic Civil War able to experience significant development and advancement in the aftermath of The Clone Wars?
gpt
It's not *just* aesthetics.  The empire favors function over form.  They don't care that the tech is uglier.  They don't care that some civilians on certain planets think buttons are "so last decade".  They care that pretty much any person, of any species, in any armor, on any planet, can use them and accomplish the needed tasks within moments without needed to swipe around to different holographic environments.  The rebels on the other hand, are often using repurposed civilian tech, which is designed to look pretty but often breaks down or has various limitations that Empire tech doesn't have.