, with new episodes produced in seasons and released weekly. It takes place in a universe closely resembling, but distinct from (especially after the events of Revenge of the Sith) the Star Wars Universe The series is made using the Galaxy at War mod to the video game Men Of War: Assault Squad which allows Star Wars characters, vehicles, weapons, locations and more to be inserted into the game. Photographs and clips from the films and footage from other video games such as Star Wars: Battlefront and Empire at War have also been used in cinematics.Each episode begins with a cinematic/cutscene that shows the characters, continues the established story, and introduces the battle of the episode. The rest of the episode is screen capture footage of a battle between two or more of the factions modded into the game. Though some episodes focus on smaller engagements, the majority include hundreds of combatants. Though the mod allows Daley to take control of any soldier or vehicle he wants, and even add and subtract soldiers and scenery, a main draw of the series is that he usually refrains from doing so unless necessary to continue the battle; a main draw of the series is the ability to see large scale battles between mostly AI controlled soldiers, with no outcome certain. But whatever outcome does occur, including the antagonist faction winning or main characters being wounded or dying will impact the story going forwards. Similar to a Let's Play, during battle segments of episodes, Daley will provide voice-over, recorded with the footage of the battle, both describing what is going on and often making jokes. Because the battles are uncertain, the length of episodes varies from under 20 minutes to over 40.
Rico's Brigade takes place in a universe that combines Star Wars canon, Star Wars Legends, and original, fan-fiction elements imagined by Daley. It follows the titular character of Rico, a clone trooper who, following the deaths of his entire squad, known as Daley Squad, began investigating the breeding of his clone "brothers" and soon discovered the terrible truth: Each clone was implanted with a bio-technological chip in their brain that when activated, would cause them to both kill anyone resembling a Jedi, and become mindlessly loyal to their superiors.
Rico's every attempt to warn his superiors of the obvious plot was foiled, due to Palpatine. Giving up, Rico instead used his natural charisma and intelligence to amass a following of roughly 1 billion open-minded clone commanders and their soldiers, and get them stationed in the Vergesso Asteroid Field, where they would have no contact with the rest of the galaxy, and could wait out whatever doom was quickly approaching the Republic.
At the end of the "Clone Wars," Order 66 was executed, the Jedi Order branded traitors and massacred, and Palpatine declared himself emperor of the Republic, now the Galactic Empire. Pockets of resistance sprung up, but none were able to gain any sort of foothold. But roughly two years after Order 66, a new hope emerged from the far corners of the galaxy; the military force known as Rico's Brigade.
As of November 2020, Rico's Brigade is currently wrapping up it's fourth season, the longest season yet, with over 25 episodes.
Rico's Brigade contains examples of:
- Artistic License – Military: A "Brigade" is only one unit in an army, whereas Rico leads an entire faction composed of multiple armies.
- Badass Army: The titular Brigade, which is in fact a whole composed of numerous armies with their own distinct armor and commanders.
- Big Bad: Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Empire.
- Car Fu: If things are looking grim but Daley can get one of his men to a vehicle, be it a tank or civilian speeder, he'll put a soldier in it and use it to run over the enemy
- The Dragon: Darth Vader
- Eldritch Abomination: Chaos is apparently a Sith spirit who possesses various bodies to carry out its will.
- The Empire: The Trope Codifier is the main antagonist.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: In season 3, Chaos has Dr. Schliefflen create zombies (who don't attack his Forces) to bolster his army, but they only fight in a few battles before Chaos realizes they're an innefective fighting force.
- Good Versus Good: During Season 3, Rico's 2nd, Racket, who had already defied Rico numerous times to take a more reckless approach, learns of a supposed upcoming changing of the Coruscant guard that would provide them a perfect opportunity to attack. Rico forbids it, not trusting the intel, but Racket assembles an army led by the Brigade's more reckless commanders and has them go for it anyways. Rico reluctantly sends forces to stop them, and they ultimately have a few battles, with "Racket's Regime" donning red phase I clone armor to avoid confusion. The attack on Coruscant fails, however, and Racket goes back to Rico, who does ultimately forgive him
- Earlier in the same season Chaos, impersonating rebel commander Contra, tricks his rebel soldiers into attacking a Rico's Brigade base under the belief that they're Stormtroopers in disguise.
- The Ghost: Luke Skywalker is mentioned (though not by name) a few times, but never appears.
- Grenade Spam: One of Daley's favorite tactics for defeating enemies behind cover. The AI isn't afraid to throw it back, though.
- The Hero: Rico, a clone trooper who learned about Order 66, and assembled his own army to fight the Empire.
- Killed Off for Real: Flashpoint, Mace Windu, Rahm Kota, Dodger, Rookie, Thunderbolt, Boris, Clocker, and Fixer, to name a few.
- Knight of Cerebus: Whenever Darth Vader gets involved, things are much, much harder for the heroes. He's fought in three battles, and won the first two. Was knocked down and defeated in the gameplay in the third, but the heroes were only buying time.
- Mêlée à Trois: In the narrative, it starts out as Rico's Brigade and Rebellion vs The Empire and their Hutt Cartell allies. But a new droid army led by Count Dooku's son, Jaden appears and tries to take the galaxy for itself. Afterwards, there's Racket's Regime, then Chaos's Army, then the new droid army, and even Rico's loyalists, all hostile to both the Brigade, and the Empire.
- Despite all this, it's surprisingly rare in the actual battles. The only case being one episode where Chaos, impersonating a rebel officer, sent his men to attack Rico's Brigade under the impression they were disguised Stormtroopers, with actual Stormtroopers arriving to complicate things.
- Plot Armor: Plot important character have extra health, though many of them are elite soldiers, which Daley can't program in.
- Ripped from the Headlines/ Does This Remind You of Anything?: One episode, release relatively early into the COVID-19 pandemic, features Chaos and Dr. Schlieffen infecting a clone base with a non-fatal, but debilitating disease that requires frequent hand-washing and social-distancing to control.
Daley said in the video that would be the only episode on the topic, out of fear of being accused of using the pandemic to get views. - Take That!: In one episode, Mental asks if their ship's been tracked through hyperspace. Wolffe responds that such an ability would be completely over-powered and would make no sense. (despite one of the primary complaints about that plot point being how it was perfectly possible in Star Wars before that film.)
- The Voiceless: Tarkin and Darth Vader have never said a word (though we do hear Vader breathe briefly).
