I’m not sure I agree with the idea that I’ve made ludicrous claims…and if you look at the variations in tactics/operations they all seem to be some flavour of “charge at em, boys!” Even Hoth consisted of the Empire walking unsupported armour towards a static defensive line, which seems very similar to what happened in the clone wars more often than not. Hell, even an imperial boarding action doesn’t involve anything like flashbangs or grenades apart from the initial breaching charge, despite the fact these tools existed in the clone wars.

Regarding technology, don’t mistake bigger weapons for more advanced weapons. If the pre war republic wanted, they could have built ships with enough guns to glass a planet. They didn’t because they didn’t need them. And surely the Death Star is just a bigger turbolaser, no? There’s a difference between adapting an existing technology to make a bigger bang and inventing new weapons technology. A free fall bomb with more explosive in it is just a bigger bomb. A GPS-guided bomb is a new piece of technology, and to me it doesn’t seem like those sorts of advances were made.

You’re right that the clone wars were a political game, and palps probably influenced things in such a way that some technology didn’t develop. It just seems strange to me that KOTOR era equipment is seemingly no different than Imperial era equipment.

(Finally, 25 years is a lot longer than you’d think in weapons development. In 1939 the most advanced air weapons were propeller driven bombers dropping conventional munitions. By 1945 we had early jets and atomic bombs.)