During the early years of the Empire the Sith Lords played to their underlings nationalism; relying upon a sense of pride in their position as citizens of the Empire to convince them to join the armed forces. For the greater part of its early history, this worked; the armed forces would swell in size until sometimes the civilian-military ratio reached near 1:5. However, it did not always work, and during times of war when civilians became less willing to enter the services, it was not uncommon for conscription to be put in place. During the many Sith civil wars especially, citizens of the Empire would actively seek out ways of avoiding conscription; sometimes fleeing the Empire outright. This would often severely affect a combatant’s ability to wage their campaigns properly, and more often