system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] If Palpatine was willing use cloning...

...to clone multiple copies of Snoke and even of himself, then why didn't he clone any earlier apprentices?

Wouldn't it have been convenient to have had a ready backup supply of Mauls, Dookus, or Anakins, any of whom could have been reproduced at the height of their physical primes, and then indoctrinated to Sheev's specifications?

If Palpatine was so ready willing and able to use a similar system to maintain Snoke and to even resurrect himself, then why not use it on any of his earlier prospects?
gpt
Well first of all cloning a Force user doesn't necessarily mean the clone will be able to use the Force. 

Snoke was also a special case, he was pieced together biologically and essentially used as a puppet to rebuild a power base and seduce a new apprentice for his return.

As for Palpatine's body, it was a final ditch contingency in case the worst happened, which it did.

Cloning was a means to an end for Palpatine, he could have roled the dice with trying to clone an apprentice, but he had enough originals to choose from, and if one didn't suit his needs, then a clone of that person, no matter how perfect it may be (which would be a long shot at best) would definitely not do.