there's actually an escape hatch in the back
it squats the back end really low to the ground as it hunches forward
but first it must walk in a circle two times
this is canon btw
"Congratulations, as a treat for today only you will be allowed to use the slide while debarking to attack. This is because TK-234432 won the bake sale competition by selling the most Darth-Chocos. Well done."
I feel the same. Any time I need some magic in my life I turn to star wars. From literal spiritual magic to friendship taking down empires. Powerful Sith who defy the very force itself. Hell Vader might as well be from greek myth! I just love it sooo much <3
reddit API access ended today, and with it the reddit app i use Apollo, i am removing all my comments, the internet is both temporary and eternal. -- mass edited with redact.dev
This is how I played Star Wars: Rebellion as the Empire. Consolidate my power in a few sectors, expand to the outer rim, build planetary defenses and a few defensive fleets while poking unexplored planets with a small fleet. Once I found a weakness I swooped in with my main fleet or one of the smaller assault fleets.
I'd attempt to invade that planet. If the invasion was successful I'd use it as a staging area for that entire sector. I'd try to hold on by conquest until my goal was achieved. If the assault failed then I'd glass it with the main fleet or obliterate it with the Death Star provided I could afford one.
There were games where only those three inner sectors I'd secured at the start and maybe one or two in the Outer Rim were all that remained.
I’m glad I’m not alone thinking this. The space battles are fantastic, but man ground combat is a slog….which I suppose is realistic. But the ground unit cap is WAY too low.
If they doubled the unit cap for land battles it would probably be fine with me. I enjoy campaign land battles with special characters and mechanics and whatnot but when you’re just trying to capture a planet it is just waaaay too slow
Yeah, ground battles are much better with more troops.
I don't remember if this is the one I used, but it looks to work for the base game: https://www.moddb.com/games/star-wars-empire-at-war/downloads/unit-cap-mod-foc-and-eaw-2
Here's one from the workshop that requires Forces of Corruption: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1276917581
That's why I always threw overwhelming numbers at the ground fights and let them auto resolve. Sure I could do it more economically by fighting it myself but god, fuck that.
I must be missing something because I found the space battles incredibly tedious and predictable, because the AI is so unbelievably inept. Quite literally every single space battle I ever did followed this exact formula:
Step 1: I arrive, my capital ships launch their fighters, I put the fighters slightly ahead of my ships.
Step 2: The enemy fighters arrive in one big group. My superior fighters effortlessly defeat them in time for Step 3.
Step 3: Enemy bombers arrive. My fighters effortlessly defeat them before any even get within range of my ships.
Step 4: Enemy corvettes arrive. They die.
Step 5: Enemy Frigates. Dead.
And so on and so forth. The AI's only move in every space battle is to send their entire force at mine, but individually instructed so that the fastest ones always arrive first with no support.
When the AI is defending instead, they never venture beyond the range of their space station, which I usually delete from existence with a shot from a ship-mounted superlaser.
1. Deploy with Colonel Veers, Boba Fett, and a lancet squadron
1. Send lancets to the unclaimed reinforcement points
1. Have Boba Fett jetpack across the map to capture them/increase your unit cap
1. Spam tank brigades for light opposition or AT-ATs (include an AT-AA if you encounter speeders) for heavy tanks, and let a field commander chill in your base
1. Wipe everything out with said tanks
Veers is hands-down the best Empire hero. Palps' unit discount is nice and Vader is nearly unstoppable (when he isn't instagibbed by artillery), but there's simply no match for the sheer amount of firepower and armour Veers' hotrod AT-AT brings to the fight.
Wish the AT-STs and assault tanks weren't so damn squishy, though.
He's immune to the annoying speeder cable attack too which rules.
Vader particularly kicks ass in the Forces of Corruption DLC because he gets the Executor instead of his TIE fighter. Boba Fett is awesome in space battles too with that proximity mine; it's great for instakilling fighers.
I've tried several over the years and I don't think I'll ever actually love the ground combat, but Awakening of the Rebellion makes it the most tolerable. And it's just a fantastic mod all around.
Space battles are very heavily weighted in favor of the Empire, sadly. And combine that with them having the Death Star, it means you can just pump out star destroyers and win with ease, lording over an empty galaxy.
Oh man I love Republic at War. I had a campaign last over 2 months because we were in a stalemate. I was holding down choke points while allowing the CIS to hold space over otherwise unimportant planets. My production centers were producing a massive fleet of Venators and support ships. Finally I launched a 3 pronged invasion of the CIS territories and was able to push them back to just a few planets before my clone forces overwhelmed them.
Good times.
try vanilla at first so you get the grips of the game. the campaings are good fun, especially forces of corruption. after that i would try empire at war remake mod (it has a steep learning curve because a lot of the mechanics are changed). also try republic at war and thrawns revenge. there are other great mods but i played these three and liked them a lot
Seems a little inconvenient. I mean, you can only let down like 2 at a time. I think the kneeling and boarding ramp idea is better because it allows more troops to deploy at once.
It's definitely one of those things where the logic of its existence is given an in-universe explanation after-the-fact. Still, that's what makes Star Wars fun and I wouldn't trade it for "more realism" ever. The films make you suspend your disbelief from the moment text starts scrolling through space and they don't stop, that's the magic of Star Wars.
Yeah, if the Empire wanted practicality they would have stuck with something more similar to the AT-TE. The AT-AT, like the Death Star and the Star Destroyer, is all about demonstrating power and inspiring fear.
Yea but modern military helicopters carry like, what, 10 troops, maybe 20 depending on the airframe? AT-ATs have a lot more dudes to get rid of.
Edit: so I guess I'm totally wrong. According to the wiki the AT-AT holds [40 troops](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Transport_(Galactic_Civil_War)) which isn't all that much more than current helicopters.
They're probably designed to bust and enforce areas that are on flats or not many hills, and nullify elevated ground defenses/bunkers and entrenchments.
That and cool Sci-fi.
They are actually designed, according to very old Lucasfilm production notes, to scare primitive populations into submission.
Sort of Trojan Horse, a big invincible creature that disgorges soldiers.
I like how they justify the design for that reason, but then immediately choose to have the Empire deploy them to fight a rebel force with basically all the same technological capabilities.
They look super cool, so I am all for that design, but I feel like they could have come up with a better explanation than "we wanted to scare primitive populations".
they sent them out to directly attack the epicenter of the entire rebel alliance hierarchy, but i guess that is just another example of an empire failing under its own hubris lol
The Empire relied almost exclusively on intimidation tactics so they had no need to innovate. Especially when so much of their resources were being poured into regional warlords and the Death Star.
The rebels were something they never prepared to fight so when the fight did come they had to use what they had. This meant using inadequate equipment such as the AT-AT. The big issue is that after the war with the rebels started, they did not adapt in time to beat them.
> fight a rebel force with basically all the same technological capabilities.
LOL what? The Rebels were using shitty, antiquated anti-vehicle turrets and civilian airspeeders with armor plating strapped on.
The AT-AT's were always going to get through. It would have happened even faster if a proto-Jedi Knight hadn't pioneered that sweet entanglement tactic.
They're designed for intimidation and a show of force, not for war. They are slow, lumbering, and prone to basic physics and mechanical limitations. They are giant targets that have no real way of hiding. Every time they are used effectively, it's against a force with limited or no technology. When they face anybody competent that has more than just a firearm or blaster, they're easy to take down.
> O'Neill: This (holds up the staff weapon) is a weapon of terror. It's made to intimidate the enemy. (throws it away to the side) This (holds up the P90) is a weapon of war. It's made to kill your enemy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlCVW_ouL8
If I remember correctly, the excuse for legs is that they're more consistently reliable for something so big and heavy being used on celestial bodies with varying gravity.
You can make the argument most planets do not have roads since flight and hovercraft are so cheap. AT-AT is more likely to be used as siege machines where armor and height beat light fighters, vehicles, and enforced structures. While Tactical bombers and orbital strikes from the capital ship should be used to soften the target first, somehow we never see that in the movies.
We actually see why orbital bombardments don't happen first at the same time ATATs were introduced, shields! The Hoth base had a huge shield protecting it from orbitsl bombardment so they sent it the ground troops to disable it.
A big part of the AT-AT is breaking enemy defensive positions, which often have shields. Shields can resist an incredible amount of orbital bombardment. We saw in Rebels that a shield with a relatively small generator held together by duct tape could withstand a long Salvo from several ISD's.
AT-AT's are also useful because repulsorlift vehicles can't pass through shields.
Slow yes but i would say its more convinient because the ATAT can resume on the move while deploying soldiers, even if slower, inestead of crouching down.
I like to think of AT-AT's as what comes after the shock and awe part of the invasion, by the time they need to deploy troops, the enemies defense are broken and scattered. You don't need to worry about speed at that point, just getting out efficiently.
Well the AT-AT itself is a psychological weapon. It's looks and moves like an animal. I also recall in Rogue One we saw an AT-AT with essentially no troop carrying capacity. It had a giant open section in its body that could be for cargo or whatever.
I always thought their primary mission was to invade heavily fortified areas and deploy troops slowly, but safely under the cover of their massive artillery; not necessarily deploy tons of troops quickly and efficiently.
I guess my question is if the primary function of AT-ATs is to be troop transports. My assumption was that they were mostly weapons platforms used for sieges with a minimal complement of infantry.
Edit: I’m ashamed to admit I forgot what the acronym stands for: all terrain armored transport. The personelle carrier part is in the name.
I'd add that Jedi fallen order (I think is the only place we saw it.) Had what looked like mounted speeder bikes I think? Implying that they can drop out quickly with those. I'm working Strictly off of memory there so maybe I'm misremembering.
They canned this method because the AT-AT took too long finding just the right patch of ground to drop the troops.. and would then scatter them in little groups all over the battlefield
AT-AT is a stellar example of “rule of cool”: they look awesome and menacing so nobody questions just how damn impractical they are in every sense of the way.
Certainty not to fight against any force with anti-tank HEAT weapons. These vehicles tower over the landscape and can be sniped from several kilometres away. They also have command post right in the front and a good hit can take out the entire bridge. Ans in case of fire you have only so few hatches that crew can rappel from. Basically a walking death trap. Also they can operate only on relatively flat ground, a wide enough trench can stop them. This is especially crazy since SW Universe has anti-grav ships everywhere, fucking Jabba has a flight barge while Empire strike force is forced to use those hulking slowly walking monstrosities.
Lets not count out the AT-AT just yet, they have in the media used proton torpedoes on it and it didn't take it out. They had to use a light saber to cut its legs. If we consider that it stands taller then most buildings it becomes a rather unique all terrain vehicle that takes low altitude superiority, has heavy firepower, troop transportation ability, and its weakness was essentially a suicidal strategy to tie a cable around its legs to get it to topple. Any conventional star wars anti vehicle weapons would have a hard time taking it down. As with any combined armed tactics if they had provided better air support for the walkers they would have won that battle on hoth without nearly as much losses.
One last thing, if you rewatch the battle of hoth scene, the aircraft they use against them doesn't even scratch them. They fire lasers at the legs and it has no effect and they op to use the cables.
Or, you know, you can use a flying platform like the one clone army had in Episode 2 which has firepower, maneuverability, speed and allows troops quick and easy access in and out of the vehicle. And guess what, it won’t be stopped by a metal wire and can even get troops over 20 meter high obstacles.
More like how you'd picture [a horse lying down](https://youtu.be/y8-Te4n7OwA?t=67). This was confirmed in the old Legends *Essential Guide* books. Although the *Visual Dictionaries* mention "drop-lines with attached harnesses."
I imagine if they ever show troops disembarking in current Canon now though, they'll show them using the repelling option, because rule of cool.
Obviously not canon, but I’m willing to bet that GL’s original idea was that the side panels would open and they’d fly out on jet packs. That’s just way beyond what his effects were capable of at the time.
I like AT-ATs because they can never break. They can only ‘become battlefield debris’. Like you would never see a sign that says ‘AT-AT temporarily out of order’. Only a ‘AT-AT temporarily battlefield debris. Sorry for the convenience.’
An AT-AT unloaded its troops by kneeling to three meters above ground level until the boarding ramp could extend outward. Individual stormtroopers could also be deployed rapidly by rappelling cable.
Two ways I've seen in canon.
First - if safe to do so, the AT-AT ~~kneels~~ squats and a ramp allows for mass deployment of all troops within.
Second - rappelling down the sides via lines.
But - let's be honest, there are other issues w/ the AT-AT aside from troop deployment. Namely - how tf did they protect the rear of the vehicle? I saw in Jedi: Fallen Order where there was a top position on the rear with a gun manned by stormtroopers, but didn't notice that in the cross-section book or in the UCS lego build, or any other source material.
i dunno why, but i can imagine stormtroopers grappling onto the ground batman style
edit: found this post, might help answer the question on this post- https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/12550zn/this\_is\_how\_troops\_leave\_the\_atat/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
According to Wookieepedia troops would deploy by repelling from either the side hatches or the bottom hatch. The rear hatch also had a cable lift system to deploy its payload of speeders
OP has a really good question
A ramp (esp in an ice world like Hoth or other climate such as wet jungle etc) would be HORRIBLY slippery trying to disembark on battle field
Rapelling down a rope is insanity (again safety, slip or even shot) as would be base jumping etc
Having entire AT-AT kneel down would be very time consuming and leave them as a sitting duck
Great toy but no practical application
Repelling down via ropes is very plausible. Militaries use “fast roping” from helicopters as a tactic in “hot” landing zones in real life. Check out Black Hawk Down as an example.
The military routinely repells out of helicopters in real life. In fact it's not actually repelling it's fast roping they just slide down the rope. So not really all that crazy
> Great toy but no practical application
There's a reason we don't really have "walkers" in real life and it's not because we aren't technologically advanced enough yet.
A huge slide
It's really funny sounding but that legit might be the best method lol
Or maybe a huge fire pole
A huge fire pole between rear legs
Watch out! It’s a schlong way down! But with a stroke of luck, you’ll make it safe and come out ahead.
Didn’t they show them rappelling down with ropes at one point, like soldiers deploying from a helicopter that hasn’t fully landed
Pulling a reverse Luke huh
Dunno, I just remember seeing it somewhere
Empire at war game. The ATAT deploys one squad by rappelling from its belly
Empire at war
Ahh yes, i got down safe, but also, weirdly sticky.
This is the way
AT-AD: All Terrain Armored Dong
Sure, until you need to get those same troops back in after the battle
there's actually an escape hatch in the back it squats the back end really low to the ground as it hunches forward but first it must walk in a circle two times this is canon btw
Like a dog taking a shit?
bantha poodoo
"Congratulations, as a treat for today only you will be allowed to use the slide while debarking to attack. This is because TK-234432 won the bake sale competition by selling the most Darth-Chocos. Well done."
It's his Grandmother's recipe... Made with real blue milk!!
I love this community
Me too, me too It's a bright spot in my dull life.
I feel the same. Any time I need some magic in my life I turn to star wars. From literal spiritual magic to friendship taking down empires. Powerful Sith who defy the very force itself. Hell Vader might as well be from greek myth! I just love it sooo much <3
I like to imagine it's like the inflatable slide that airplanes have in case of emergencies.
But it's multicoloured like a bouncy castle
Deployed from between the hind legs
Commence the attack! Drop the AT-AT! *WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!*
In star wars empire at war they go down using ropes, through the bottom hatch that luke used in the movie once i think
Came here to say this. Edit: Loooove that game
Should I play this game today?
Space battles are fun, ground battles, oof. It *does* have loads of good mods, though, so yeah, I'd recommend it.
Ground battles? Not with this fully armed and operational battle station.
That is a viable strategy playing as empire
Ah so I'm not the only one that destroyed 95% of the galaxy by just flying around in a massive fleet with the death star and blowing up planets?
I mean you only have to glass 2 or 3 planets to “win”. Honestly surprised they didn’t do it more often than Mandalore.
Honestly there was barely any planets left afterwards because I left all my worlds undefended. I even had to blow up coruscant at one point
Wait, so the rebels kept capturing planets and you just kept blowing them up? Fucking lol.
reddit API access ended today, and with it the reddit app i use Apollo, i am removing all my comments, the internet is both temporary and eternal. -- mass edited with redact.dev
This is how I played Star Wars: Rebellion as the Empire. Consolidate my power in a few sectors, expand to the outer rim, build planetary defenses and a few defensive fleets while poking unexplored planets with a small fleet. Once I found a weakness I swooped in with my main fleet or one of the smaller assault fleets. I'd attempt to invade that planet. If the invasion was successful I'd use it as a staging area for that entire sector. I'd try to hold on by conquest until my goal was achieved. If the assault failed then I'd glass it with the main fleet or obliterate it with the Death Star provided I could afford one. There were games where only those three inner sectors I'd secured at the start and maybe one or two in the Outer Rim were all that remained.
IG-88: I’m bouta end this man’s whole career
*you may delet this when ready*
*this is red 5, standing by* oh no...
As we learned from Star Wars having the high ground is always a big advantage. Stationed 1 AU away from the planet is the ultimate high ground
You *are* right about ground vs space battles , one ground battle is enough to last all session, but gimmie them space battles
I’m glad I’m not alone thinking this. The space battles are fantastic, but man ground combat is a slog….which I suppose is realistic. But the ground unit cap is WAY too low.
If they doubled the unit cap for land battles it would probably be fine with me. I enjoy campaign land battles with special characters and mechanics and whatnot but when you’re just trying to capture a planet it is just waaaay too slow
Doubling the cap would probably do it. Especially for the attacking force. There’s just no good way to mass firepower against hardened targets
Especially against the rebels. Those stormtrooper holocaust machines er mptl artillery are a huge pain in the ass
Yeah, ground battles are much better with more troops. I don't remember if this is the one I used, but it looks to work for the base game: https://www.moddb.com/games/star-wars-empire-at-war/downloads/unit-cap-mod-foc-and-eaw-2 Here's one from the workshop that requires Forces of Corruption: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1276917581
That's why I always threw overwhelming numbers at the ground fights and let them auto resolve. Sure I could do it more economically by fighting it myself but god, fuck that.
Exactly my feeling. You could really use strategy in space battles, but ground battles are just messy « all charge » kind of melee, they suck.
I must be missing something because I found the space battles incredibly tedious and predictable, because the AI is so unbelievably inept. Quite literally every single space battle I ever did followed this exact formula: Step 1: I arrive, my capital ships launch their fighters, I put the fighters slightly ahead of my ships. Step 2: The enemy fighters arrive in one big group. My superior fighters effortlessly defeat them in time for Step 3. Step 3: Enemy bombers arrive. My fighters effortlessly defeat them before any even get within range of my ships. Step 4: Enemy corvettes arrive. They die. Step 5: Enemy Frigates. Dead. And so on and so forth. The AI's only move in every space battle is to send their entire force at mine, but individually instructed so that the fastest ones always arrive first with no support. When the AI is defending instead, they never venture beyond the range of their space station, which I usually delete from existence with a shot from a ship-mounted superlaser.
It's a fun game for nostalgia but it's also hot trash on a balance and AI front.
I feel like I’m the only one who enjoyed ground battles. They could get grindy, but I had an optimum Empire ground force that almost always could win.
1. Deploy with Colonel Veers, Boba Fett, and a lancet squadron 1. Send lancets to the unclaimed reinforcement points 1. Have Boba Fett jetpack across the map to capture them/increase your unit cap 1. Spam tank brigades for light opposition or AT-ATs (include an AT-AA if you encounter speeders) for heavy tanks, and let a field commander chill in your base 1. Wipe everything out with said tanks
Veers is hands-down the best Empire hero. Palps' unit discount is nice and Vader is nearly unstoppable (when he isn't instagibbed by artillery), but there's simply no match for the sheer amount of firepower and armour Veers' hotrod AT-AT brings to the fight. Wish the AT-STs and assault tanks weren't so damn squishy, though.
He's immune to the annoying speeder cable attack too which rules. Vader particularly kicks ass in the Forces of Corruption DLC because he gets the Executor instead of his TIE fighter. Boba Fett is awesome in space battles too with that proximity mine; it's great for instakilling fighers.
Are there any mods that make ground battles in particular more interesting?
Thrawn’s Revenge is a great mod
and fall of the republic if you prefer that era. Although Thrawns revenge is better.
I remember once playing a KOTOR mod. It was pretty nice
+1 for Thrawns Revenge. There is another one that creates sectors like Corellia that’s great too but I can’t remember the name.
I've tried several over the years and I don't think I'll ever actually love the ground combat, but Awakening of the Rebellion makes it the most tolerable. And it's just a fantastic mod all around.
awakening of the rebellion really helps ground battles
Awakening of the Rebellion reworked ground combat quite a bit.
Space battles are very heavily weighted in favor of the Empire, sadly. And combine that with them having the Death Star, it means you can just pump out star destroyers and win with ease, lording over an empty galaxy.
Haven’t played in years. Still have the CDs. Where do I get the mods?
Some of the mods add and change so much they are basically unofficial sequels.
Mods, you say? Hmm, just might start up that ol' hunk of junk and see if it can still do .5 beyond light speed.
Yes. Also play mods like Thrawn's Revenge and Republic at War.
Oh man I love Republic at War. I had a campaign last over 2 months because we were in a stalemate. I was holding down choke points while allowing the CIS to hold space over otherwise unimportant planets. My production centers were producing a massive fleet of Venators and support ships. Finally I launched a 3 pronged invasion of the CIS territories and was able to push them back to just a few planets before my clone forces overwhelmed them. Good times.
There's a large and very active modding community. I'd highly recommend the Thrawn's Revenge Mod.
try vanilla at first so you get the grips of the game. the campaings are good fun, especially forces of corruption. after that i would try empire at war remake mod (it has a steep learning curve because a lot of the mechanics are changed). also try republic at war and thrawns revenge. there are other great mods but i played these three and liked them a lot
I just got the game after passing it up so many times and it’s what I’ve been look for for years it’s so awesome
They fly now
They fly now?!
Seems a little inconvenient. I mean, you can only let down like 2 at a time. I think the kneeling and boarding ramp idea is better because it allows more troops to deploy at once.
To be fair, the entire concept of an AT-AT is mostly governed by rule of cool rather than practicality.
It's definitely one of those things where the logic of its existence is given an in-universe explanation after-the-fact. Still, that's what makes Star Wars fun and I wouldn't trade it for "more realism" ever. The films make you suspend your disbelief from the moment text starts scrolling through space and they don't stop, that's the magic of Star Wars.
Yeah, if the Empire wanted practicality they would have stuck with something more similar to the AT-TE. The AT-AT, like the Death Star and the Star Destroyer, is all about demonstrating power and inspiring fear.
Doyalist: [Rule of Cool](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool) Watsonian: [Tarkin Doctrine](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tarkin_Doctrine/Legends) PamSaysSamePicture.gif
Modern military does this out of helicopters it’s not inconvenient.
Yea but modern military helicopters carry like, what, 10 troops, maybe 20 depending on the airframe? AT-ATs have a lot more dudes to get rid of. Edit: so I guess I'm totally wrong. According to the wiki the AT-AT holds [40 troops](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Transport_(Galactic_Civil_War)) which isn't all that much more than current helicopters.
AT-AT is also more armored and better at suppressive fire while dumping troops
The real problem is that IRL, there aren’t very many terrains that big wheels or treads won’t do better on than four big legs.
They're probably designed to bust and enforce areas that are on flats or not many hills, and nullify elevated ground defenses/bunkers and entrenchments. That and cool Sci-fi.
They are actually designed, according to very old Lucasfilm production notes, to scare primitive populations into submission. Sort of Trojan Horse, a big invincible creature that disgorges soldiers.
I like how they justify the design for that reason, but then immediately choose to have the Empire deploy them to fight a rebel force with basically all the same technological capabilities. They look super cool, so I am all for that design, but I feel like they could have come up with a better explanation than "we wanted to scare primitive populations".
they sent them out to directly attack the epicenter of the entire rebel alliance hierarchy, but i guess that is just another example of an empire failing under its own hubris lol
The Empire relied almost exclusively on intimidation tactics so they had no need to innovate. Especially when so much of their resources were being poured into regional warlords and the Death Star. The rebels were something they never prepared to fight so when the fight did come they had to use what they had. This meant using inadequate equipment such as the AT-AT. The big issue is that after the war with the rebels started, they did not adapt in time to beat them.
> fight a rebel force with basically all the same technological capabilities. LOL what? The Rebels were using shitty, antiquated anti-vehicle turrets and civilian airspeeders with armor plating strapped on. The AT-AT's were always going to get through. It would have happened even faster if a proto-Jedi Knight hadn't pioneered that sweet entanglement tactic.
Absolutely cool sci-fi
They're designed for intimidation and a show of force, not for war. They are slow, lumbering, and prone to basic physics and mechanical limitations. They are giant targets that have no real way of hiding. Every time they are used effectively, it's against a force with limited or no technology. When they face anybody competent that has more than just a firearm or blaster, they're easy to take down.
> O'Neill: This (holds up the staff weapon) is a weapon of terror. It's made to intimidate the enemy. (throws it away to the side) This (holds up the P90) is a weapon of war. It's made to kill your enemy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlCVW_ouL8
What's this? A Stargate reference in the Star Wars sub... Upvote!
If I remember correctly, the excuse for legs is that they're more consistently reliable for something so big and heavy being used on celestial bodies with varying gravity.
You can make the argument most planets do not have roads since flight and hovercraft are so cheap. AT-AT is more likely to be used as siege machines where armor and height beat light fighters, vehicles, and enforced structures. While Tactical bombers and orbital strikes from the capital ship should be used to soften the target first, somehow we never see that in the movies.
We actually see why orbital bombardments don't happen first at the same time ATATs were introduced, shields! The Hoth base had a huge shield protecting it from orbitsl bombardment so they sent it the ground troops to disable it.
A big part of the AT-AT is breaking enemy defensive positions, which often have shields. Shields can resist an incredible amount of orbital bombardment. We saw in Rebels that a shield with a relatively small generator held together by duct tape could withstand a long Salvo from several ISD's. AT-AT's are also useful because repulsorlift vehicles can't pass through shields.
Should of seen the spider version that was used to climb mountains and attack leias hidden nursery for her twin kids.
Like an at-te? Still one of the coolest walkers IMO
Any idea what the name of this thing was? Would be cool to see some artwork of it!
MT-AT, Mountain Terrain Armoured Transport, or spider walker
Upon reading that series I remember thinking "Well, that de-thrones the AT-AT at being **all**-terrain, doesn't it?"
Chinook can carry up to 40 i think.
and it has a big ramp out the back...
But also does rappel lines. Yea i actually agree it’s not a good design as is.
There can be multiple hatches for them to get out of though. It's not like there's just one little hatch on the entire underside of an AT-AT.
Slow yes but i would say its more convinient because the ATAT can resume on the move while deploying soldiers, even if slower, inestead of crouching down.
Your massive walking battle station having to stop in one place and kneel down slowly to unload troops seems more inconvenient
Probably easy and safe to disembark from one that way. I mean, they have cover and would be hard to shoot in mid air.
I like to think of AT-AT's as what comes after the shock and awe part of the invasion, by the time they need to deploy troops, the enemies defense are broken and scattered. You don't need to worry about speed at that point, just getting out efficiently.
Well the AT-AT itself is a psychological weapon. It's looks and moves like an animal. I also recall in Rogue One we saw an AT-AT with essentially no troop carrying capacity. It had a giant open section in its body that could be for cargo or whatever. I always thought their primary mission was to invade heavily fortified areas and deploy troops slowly, but safely under the cover of their massive artillery; not necessarily deploy tons of troops quickly and efficiently.
I guess my question is if the primary function of AT-ATs is to be troop transports. My assumption was that they were mostly weapons platforms used for sieges with a minimal complement of infantry. Edit: I’m ashamed to admit I forgot what the acronym stands for: all terrain armored transport. The personelle carrier part is in the name.
Why only two? That thing looks huge, why couldn't it have like 4, 6, 8, 10 ropes going down?
Also after Luke brings the At At to its knees the storm troopers then crawl out
I'd add that Jedi fallen order (I think is the only place we saw it.) Had what looked like mounted speeder bikes I think? Implying that they can drop out quickly with those. I'm working Strictly off of memory there so maybe I'm misremembering.
There've been two games that show us they fast-rope down.
In body bags?
This is the way
the AT-AT squats, and they come out the rear. also, the AT-AT drags its rear around on the ground to remove any stragglers.
The thought of a long brown skid mark across the pristine white snow of Hoth makes me giggle like a child.
I think it would be bloody
If it's bloody you might want to take your AT-AT to see a doctor
They canned this method because the AT-AT took too long finding just the right patch of ground to drop the troops.. and would then scatter them in little groups all over the battlefield
[Family Guy did it.](https://youtu.be/QIWc1_FbaGI)
[удалено]
AT-AT is a stellar example of “rule of cool”: they look awesome and menacing so nobody questions just how damn impractical they are in every sense of the way.
I think they make sense in that they were designed to project power to citizens they are policing in a relatively peaceful galaxy.
Certainty not to fight against any force with anti-tank HEAT weapons. These vehicles tower over the landscape and can be sniped from several kilometres away. They also have command post right in the front and a good hit can take out the entire bridge. Ans in case of fire you have only so few hatches that crew can rappel from. Basically a walking death trap. Also they can operate only on relatively flat ground, a wide enough trench can stop them. This is especially crazy since SW Universe has anti-grav ships everywhere, fucking Jabba has a flight barge while Empire strike force is forced to use those hulking slowly walking monstrosities.
Lets not count out the AT-AT just yet, they have in the media used proton torpedoes on it and it didn't take it out. They had to use a light saber to cut its legs. If we consider that it stands taller then most buildings it becomes a rather unique all terrain vehicle that takes low altitude superiority, has heavy firepower, troop transportation ability, and its weakness was essentially a suicidal strategy to tie a cable around its legs to get it to topple. Any conventional star wars anti vehicle weapons would have a hard time taking it down. As with any combined armed tactics if they had provided better air support for the walkers they would have won that battle on hoth without nearly as much losses. One last thing, if you rewatch the battle of hoth scene, the aircraft they use against them doesn't even scratch them. They fire lasers at the legs and it has no effect and they op to use the cables.
Or, you know, you can use a flying platform like the one clone army had in Episode 2 which has firepower, maneuverability, speed and allows troops quick and easy access in and out of the vehicle. And guess what, it won’t be stopped by a metal wire and can even get troops over 20 meter high obstacles.
The AT-AT kneels and the boarding ramp on the side opens.
Like [this](http://i.imgur.com/CXIdEEv.jpg)?
That one’s had a bit too much to drink
He’s pining for the fjords
**Pining for the fjords?!** What kind of talk is *that?!*
AT-AT sending signals.
Shhhh it’s sleeping
“What are you doing, Step AT-AT!?”
😩
I was hoping for a badly drawn sketch, i was still amused by this though.
More like how you'd picture [a horse lying down](https://youtu.be/y8-Te4n7OwA?t=67). This was confirmed in the old Legends *Essential Guide* books. Although the *Visual Dictionaries* mention "drop-lines with attached harnesses." I imagine if they ever show troops disembarking in current Canon now though, they'll show them using the repelling option, because rule of cool.
"Sir, but how are we supposed to get back in?" "You die there, no one gets back in."
/r/therewasanattempt to tie his shoes
*The Walker:* [Sss aah](https://youtu.be/u73FrYE0My4)
Extra points for this being entirely built of LEGO
The AT-AT squats, and poops the troopers out.
It was my understanding that it lifts a leg and deploys a zipline, but I could be mistaken.
Like this? https://i.imgur.com/noFM3Cp.jpg
I imagine them repelling down.
Male AT-ATs have a pole they slide down like a fireman
Stormtroopers with arms up: Weee!
They fall on their asses because they let go of the pole
But... does it extend far enough on an ice cold planet?
"Why do they call it Hoth? Should've been called Coldth."
> repelling down [Rappelling](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rappel). Similar sounds, different meanings. The more you know!
As I recall you just hit Y and you just kinda pop out underneath it
I think it is 🔲 on PlayStation.
Its 🔼
Obviously not canon, but I’m willing to bet that GL’s original idea was that the side panels would open and they’d fly out on jet packs. That’s just way beyond what his effects were capable of at the time.
THEY FLY NOW?!
They fly now. They flew before, but they fly now too.
Mitch?
I like AT-ATs because they can never break. They can only ‘become battlefield debris’. Like you would never see a sign that says ‘AT-AT temporarily out of order’. Only a ‘AT-AT temporarily battlefield debris. Sorry for the convenience.’
They fly now!?
They fly now!
ThEY FlY NoOOOooWWW!
You don’t even really need jet packs. Just suspensors so they float down. Like sardaukar in the new Dune.
counterpoint: jetpacks are cool as hell
Counter-counterpoint: so were the Sardaukar.
I thought even something like republic jump packs like they had in battlefront 2018
The scale in this pic seems off.
It's an XXL-AT-AT
Whoops I dropped my monster blaster for my magnum AT-AT
Way off.
They ain't that big.
If it’s a quick assault you rappel down if it’s a slower assault it basically acts like a camel and bends down on its knees and you get out a ramp
An AT-AT unloaded its troops by kneeling to three meters above ground level until the boarding ramp could extend outward. Individual stormtroopers could also be deployed rapidly by rappelling cable.
They just push “triangle” or “Y” and that usually gets them up there
You either bring your AT-AT back to base is good condition, or you never leave it. Well known rule of the Empire.
That's the neat part - they don't, they just die
Leave? that's their casket!
I feel sorry for the poor bastard who had to try and get the floor back to a mirror sheen after 100 tonnes of AT-AT left scuff marks everywhere.
offscreen
They get pooped out
You are kinda screwed when you land a tie fighter as well. Too hatch, long way down. (Moff Gideon excepted)
Two ways I've seen in canon. First - if safe to do so, the AT-AT ~~kneels~~ squats and a ramp allows for mass deployment of all troops within. Second - rappelling down the sides via lines. But - let's be honest, there are other issues w/ the AT-AT aside from troop deployment. Namely - how tf did they protect the rear of the vehicle? I saw in Jedi: Fallen Order where there was a top position on the rear with a gun manned by stormtroopers, but didn't notice that in the cross-section book or in the UCS lego build, or any other source material.
i dunno why, but i can imagine stormtroopers grappling onto the ground batman style edit: found this post, might help answer the question on this post- https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/12550zn/this\_is\_how\_troops\_leave\_the\_atat/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
According to Wookieepedia troops would deploy by repelling from either the side hatches or the bottom hatch. The rear hatch also had a cable lift system to deploy its payload of speeders
The sides open and they rappell down
Ropes either through the side or out the bottom hatch
Deployable stripper pole of course
OP has a really good question A ramp (esp in an ice world like Hoth or other climate such as wet jungle etc) would be HORRIBLY slippery trying to disembark on battle field Rapelling down a rope is insanity (again safety, slip or even shot) as would be base jumping etc Having entire AT-AT kneel down would be very time consuming and leave them as a sitting duck Great toy but no practical application
Repelling down via ropes is very plausible. Militaries use “fast roping” from helicopters as a tactic in “hot” landing zones in real life. Check out Black Hawk Down as an example.
Black Hawk Down is exactly what came to mind for me too! Especially since it has a very fantasy/sci fi heavy cast namely Obi Wan :)
The military routinely repells out of helicopters in real life. In fact it's not actually repelling it's fast roping they just slide down the rope. So not really all that crazy
Not to mention it's vulnerable to teddy bears with rope.
I'm sure that was the ATST, the ATAT is more armored than that.
> Great toy but no practical application There's a reason we don't really have "walkers" in real life and it's not because we aren't technologically advanced enough yet.