Is an AT-AT a useful weapon?

[The Basket]

Would the AT-AT as seen on Empire Strikes Back make a useful weapon...
Or just useless.

Its armour and fire power are good but its high centre of gravity and speed are bad.

Just bored.

 

[Arsenal VG-33]

Useless weapon.

If a bunch of teddy bears could take them down using only rope and logs, well....'nuff said.

Now those speederbikes OTH, looked really cool.

 

[RabidAlien]

They'd make fairly adequate transport in some sort of terrain like snow or sand. The armament pointed forwards only, there never appeared to be any defenses other than AT-ST's and troopers on the ground. Powerful armament and thick armor, yes....but anything that could keep out of the way of the main cannons could find a way to take them out. The snowspeeders used frikkin tow-cables to TRIP the dang things! I'd keep them for bringing in supplies or something. Kinda like the deuce-n-a-half of the Empire.

 

[herman1rg]

X-wing for me

 

[B-17engineer]

ohhh The Snow Speeder~!

 

[RabidAlien]

ohhh The Snow Speeder~!

The A-10 of its day! Personally, I was always a big fan of the B-wing or the TIE Interceptor.

 

[B-17engineer]

I like the Y-Wing just because of the turret and in video games I would hate flying it

 

[BikerBabe]

Speeder bikes, yay! Speeder bikes rock!

The AT-AT was too vulnerable to be of any serious value almost anywhere.
The balance point was too high up, the legs too vulnerable (- rope, anyone?), the thing was too slow and clumsy, fuel economy - shove it, but okay, they looked big and menacing on the screen.
And then all of us in the audience could cheer for the rebels and think how clever the rebel forces were, bringing those big things down like we saw in TESB.

 

[ccheese]

Speeder bikes, yay! Speeder bikes rock!

If it's got the word "bike" in it, you're all for it.....

Charles

 

[The Basket]

AT-ATs are like tanks...need air cover. Strange that in Empire Strikes Back, the Empire didn't use any in the Hoth scene.

Maybe George Lucas isn't a warbird fan.

 

[RabidAlien]

I think it was explained in the books that the TIE fighters weren't adapted to cold-weather conditions (remember, in the movie, when Luke failed to return before the hangar doors were shut, the general told Han that the snowspeeders still hadn't been adapted for the environment...they were originally sandspeeders that were being converted). They probably found the Rebels, then just dropped whatever they had handy that would work. That's also why, in such a high-tech space-faring universe, the Rebels are riding Tauntauns instead of something mechanical with a heater, radar, and not quite so tasty to Wompa ice-beasts.

The Y-wing....the only time you really see one in the movies, its either blowing up or in the process of blowing up.

 

[BikerBabe]

If it's got the word "bike" in it, you're all for it.....

Charles

Damn, you got me there!

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

 

[B-17engineer]

I think it was explained in the books that the TIE fighters weren't adapted to cold-weather conditions (remember, in the movie, when Luke failed to return before the hangar doors were shut, the general told Han that the snowspeeders still hadn't been adapted for the environment...they were originally sandspeeders that were being converted). They probably found the Rebels, then just dropped whatever they had handy that would work. That's also why, in such a high-tech space-faring universe, the Rebels are riding Tauntauns instead of something mechanical with a heater, radar, and not quite so tasty to Wompa ice-beasts.

The Y-wing....the only time you really see one in the movies, its either blowing up or in the process of blowing up.

True

 

[T Bolt]

I always liked the A-Wing. It showed up a little in the big battle in Jedi, but was used quite a bit in the StarWars novels. I was pretty big into those books a few years ago. Probably read thirty of them.

 

[The Basket]

Then that's a plus for the AT-AT that it can operate in all climates.

I would also expect infantry support as well as air support.

Maybe the empire didn't like wheels.

The special effects in 1980 were cutting edge although looks a bit slack now.
In marked contrast to the prequels were the special effects were brilliant but the films were dire.

 

[Loiner]

The AT-AT is really an armoured personel carrier with it's own weapons as a secondary role, as it carries it own troops and speeders into combat with some level of protection.

Being tall on legs and slow seems to be a massive disadvantage and goes against all military logic, and would only make any sense if those long legs can be used to climb large heights which would make it it very mobile.

 

[Messy1]

Blow some craters into the ground ahead of the AT-AT and you would render it useless.

 

[B-17engineer]

Yeah and just put large cable across a road or whatever and its done.

 

[Loiner]

Not so if it can use it legs fully and climb: it could climb over or out of a crater, or just step over a cable stretched out in front of it.

It is potentially the ultimate all-terain vehicle.