Made a post to this effect in the Acclamator's obsolete thread- but here:
The Acclamator:
It's inspiration, the Mi-24 HIND (this particular model is a Russian Mi-24P HIND-F, with its twin 30mm cannon covered up)
Now; in X-Wing, in a cutscene, we see an AT-AT attack being supported on a Rebel planet by XG-1 StarWing Assault Gunboats. I was thinking; both successors to the Mi-24 have lost their troop carrying ability; to save on your bandwith I'll only show the Ka-50 (which is in service in small numbers)
Now the Assault Gunboat:
So, what if we stretch the design inspiration of the LAAT a little further- and hypothesize that the Empire decided that its AT-ATs were sufficient for transporting troopers, and that it was best to have a dedicated gunboat platform rather than the multi-purpose LAAT?
Interesting idea, and certainly possible when considering the Empire's decision-making, but the XG-1 was designed and manufactured by a different company than the LAAT (XG-1 by Cygnus Spaceworks and LAAT by RHE, subsidiary of KDY), so any technical influence was probably fairly general.
But it is an interesting observation that the Empire doesn't seem to have a unit precisely analogous to the LAAT (short of using LAATs, which they very well might).
The Gamma-class Assault Transport, the Delta-Class Transport, and the Sentinel-class Transport all seem to be much heavier and bulkier than the LAAT (indeed, all of them are capable of making interstellar voyages on their own, while the LAAT probably can't exit atmosphere). It is possible that this represents a conscious choice on behalf of the Empire to phase out such multi-role small transports.
It is also possible that the Empire uses LAATs and similar, but we simply haven't seen them. We certainly know they're available; so it's not unthinkable.
And you may ask yourself, 'Where does that highway go to?'
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True- wasn't referring so much to any visible similarity (the XG-1 doesn't look like either the Ka-50 or the Mi-28) but a loss of the troop carrying capability that also was required for the Soviets when designing their next generation gunships.
There's always the possibility that in ESB George Lucas will add LAATs
Robert Treder wrote:but the XG-1 was designed and manufactured by a different company than the LAAT (XG-1 by Cygnus Spaceworks and LAAT by RHE, subsidiary of KDY), so any technical influence was probably fairly general.
The KA-50 is made by Kamov, the Mi-24 by Mil.
::sig removed because it STILL offended Kelly. Hey, it's not my fault that I thing Wedge is a::
I'd suspect its more because the Empire began to rely more on transports and warships which could not enter atmospheres to launch something like the LAAT, and it was impractical for size or cost reasons to build a space capable platoon transport with the full range of attack capacity. Thus they began using things like Starwings and TIE bombers while landing troops from things like the lightly armed Y-4 or in some cases TIE Sentinels, which retain a fair amount of attack capacity but not a heavy missile load out.
Anyway, but the time the Hind-E came around they where almost never being use as troop transports, attack was the sole mission. The Mi-28 and Ka-50 where the result of design replacements which didn't need space unused for eight men in the back.
The end results where similer, but I don’t think the reasoning was the same.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Robert Treder wrote:but the XG-1 was designed and manufactured by a different company than the LAAT (XG-1 by Cygnus Spaceworks and LAAT by RHE, subsidiary of KDY), so any technical influence was probably fairly general.
The KA-50 is made by Kamov, the Mi-24 by Mil.
I know; I'm just saying, because the XG-1 and the LAAT are made by different companies, the similarities are probably general (e.g. combat roles, performance statistics, etc.), and any specific implementations of technologies within the two may be the property of the respective companies, and would not transfer from one design to the other when the Empire commissions the successor.
For example, if RHE has a patented, copyrighted engine design or something, that design wouldn't appear on the XG-1, though Cygnus' own patented design would.
And you may ask yourself, 'Where does that highway go to?'
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I would agree with Sea Skimmer: The Acclamator was able to enter a planets atmosphere, so the LAATs are likely not able to operate in a vacuum. As the ISDs likely cannot venture deep into a planets atmosphere, the LAAT could not be used by them to deploy troops, so some other delivery and air support scheme had to be found.
Likely the LAAT still serves (maybe in a modified version) in units dropped from dedicated ground assault ships, that can enter the atmosphere. These units could well still be/include the Acclamators.
Damn, I forgot how good looking a fighter the Assault Gunboat was. Pitty we don't see much of it in the EU.
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The actual model does't show that up, but the in the original Gunboat design back in X-Wing (Imperial Pursuit?)/TIE Fighter, there just weren't enough polygons to go around (that new model probably has as many for the missile launcher on top as the original had in total).
It would be cool if they changed the game implementation to represent the position of the upper launcher (as they did with the TIE Bomber's lasers)
The actual model does't show that up, but the in the original Gunboat design back in X-Wing (Imperial Pursuit?)/TIE Fighter, there just weren't enough polygons to go around (that new model probably has as many for the missile launcher on top as the original had in total).
It would be cool if they changed the game implementation to represent the position of the upper launcher (as they did with the TIE Bomber's lasers)
That model shows fifteen missiles. Six on each side pod and three smaller ones at the base of the vertical fin.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
And I think the Assault Gunboat as seen in cutscenes has those three things at the top too, though I really can't be sure.
The picture with the GEDB page doesnt have them though, and that site has proven highly reliabul.
The stats credit the vessel with Possibul loadouts of 16 Concussion Missiles, 16 Advanced Concussion Missiles, 12 Proton Torpedoes, 12 Advanced Proton Torpedoes, 4 Space Bombs and 8 Heavy Rockets
However this information seems to come from WEG, and WEG often misses all but the biggest weapons emplacements, like the TIE Interceptors other six guns.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Sea Skimmer wrote:
That model shows fifteen missiles. Six on each side pod and three smaller ones at the base of the vertical fin.
True, but that's a fanmade replacement for the standard model from X-Wing Alliance.
The Xwaupgrade models are closer to the canon versions, especially the rebel ships, but the ones that don't appear in canon are just designed to look as cool as possible whilst maintaining consistent design.
The original model doesn't have the third launcher ,and only shows the six warheads per launcher (which is the configuration you'd see if it were loaded with Protorps)
