What would have happened if the Executor wasn't disabled?

[Straha]

Suppose the A-Wing is knocked out before it hits the bridge of the executor? How do you think it would have changed the battle, and would the outcome still have been the same?

[The Original Nex]

Suppose the A-Wing is knocked out before it hits the bridge of the executor? How do you think it would have changed the battle, and would the outcome still have been the same?

The Death Star would have still been destroyed, but the Imperial Fleet would likely have rallied behind the Executor and destroyed the Rebel Fleet.

The loss of the Death Star and the Emperor were tremendous blows, but losing the Command Ship and the Fleet Admiral plunged the Imperial Fleet into dissaray, leading them to retreat deeper into Imperial Space.

Had Piett and the Executor survived, the Rebels would have likely been destroyed.

[Shinova]

Given that during most of the battle, the Star Destroyers were standing by and letting the TIEs harrass the rebels, I think so too.

[JointStrikeFighter]

Wouldnt it have been destroyed even if the A-wing was destroyed first? I mean the sheild were down, it wouldnt have taken much more to destroy the bridge.

[Elheru Aran]

Wouldnt it have been destroyed even if the A-wing was destroyed first? I mean the sheild were down, it wouldnt have taken much more to destroy the bridge.

I believe it was bridge shielding that was down specifically (not certain on this). Even if it wasn't, not having the A-wing hitting the bridge would mean that they would be able to relocate to the auxilary bridge (we know SSD's have these), not to mention pull up any backups they might have.

[Vympel]

Wouldnt it have been destroyed even if the A-wing was destroyed first? I mean the sheild were down, it wouldnt have taken much more to destroy the bridge.

They would've gotten the shields back up- see Ackbar's communications to Rebel pilots in Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Couldn't they just fire some HTLs right into the bridge tower when the shields go down?

[Sarevok]

Couldn't they just fire some HTLs right into the bridge tower when the shields go down?

The intense jamming generated by the Death Star as well as a massive commandship like the Executor may have prevented them from locking onto a relatively small area like the bridge.

[Wild Karrde]

Couldn't they just fire some HTLs right into the bridge tower when the shields go down?

The intense jamming generated by the Death Star as well as a massive commandship like the Executor may have prevented them from locking onto a relatively small area like the bridge.

Not to mention having an A-wing nearly take out the main bridge would mean they'd all simply move to the auxilary bridge and continue from there or wait until the main bridge sheilds were restored to full and then return.

[His Divine Shadow]

Wouldnt it have been destroyed even if the A-wing was destroyed first? I mean the sheild were down, it wouldnt have taken much more to destroy the bridge.

They would've gotten the shields back up- see Ackbar's communications to Rebel pilots in Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike.

Do you have quotes?

[Natorgator]

Shouldn't the auxiliary bridge have taken over anyway? Or is it not normally manned?

[Jason von Evil]

Shouldn't the auxiliary bridge have taken over anyway? Or is it not normally manned?

Apparently the whole A-Wing thing was so sudden, they didn't have time to switch to the other bridge.

[Natorgator]

Shouldn't the auxiliary bridge have taken over anyway? Or is it not normally manned?

Apparently the whole A-Wing thing was so sudden, they didn't have time to switch to the other bridge.

That seems a little odd, given that a disaster of that type would be what the auxiliary bridge was designed to handle?

[Typhonis 1]

I think it takes 20 to 25 seconds to do the switchover.They just didnt have enough time since the explosion seemed to cause the ships engines to missfire and send it into the Death Star.

[The Original Nex]

Wouldnt it have been destroyed even if the A-wing was destroyed first? I mean the sheild were down, it wouldnt have taken much more to destroy the bridge.

They would've gotten the shields back up- see Ackbar's communications to Rebel pilots in Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike.

Do you have quotes?

No quotes, but it's true that the shields would have recharged eventually.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Couldn't they just fire some HTLs right into the bridge tower when the shields go down?

The intense jamming generated by the Death Star as well as a massive commandship like the Executor may have prevented them from locking onto a relatively small area like the bridge.

So they just manually fire a mass of HTLs from numerous Mon Cals. Something has to hit. Besides, I thought that humans crewed the guns and the only reason why they operate them and not computers is because of jamming so that they can visually aim?

[The Original Nex]

The question isn't only asking "What if the A-wing was destroyed before it hit the bridge?" It's asking "What would have happened if the Executor wasn't disabled?"

If the Executor survived, how would the battle's outcome have changed, if at all?

[IRG CommandoJoe]

If the Rebel fleet was able to take down the Executor, not much would have changed. The Imperial fleet would have no direction; Palleon would have ordered a retreat and that's the end of the alternate Battle of Endor.

If the Executor's shields recharged, as some suggest might have happened, then perhaps the Rebels would consider fleeing. It would still be a Rebel victory anyway. They accomplished their primary goal.

[Stark]

If the Executor was present after the DS was destroyed, Piett would have ordered alpha strikes on the Rebel cruisers, totally destroying the rebel fleet in minutes. Its what he wanted to do to start with. Less than 10 cruisers against the 20-odd ISDs still afloat and the SDN? Toasty.

[Nieztchean Uber-Amoeba]

More importantly, how would the time of Warlords have gone without the Galactic Alliance steadily gaining ground? Would Thrawn have totally conquered the galaxy? What would then happen when the Reborn Emperor shows up? And the Vong? Would the Empire have recovered well enough to eat them alive and spit them out?

[SCVN 2812]

More importantly, how would the time of Warlords have gone without the Galactic Alliance steadily gaining ground? Would Thrawn have totally conquered the galaxy? What would then happen when the Reborn Emperor shows up? And the Vong? Would the Empire have recovered well enough to eat them alive and spit them out?

Without the Rebel Alliance exploiting the fighting between the warlords, I think you would have seen more large, powerful kingdoms spring up and be more enduring. When Thrawn returned what he would return to I think would be a bit more difficult to unite under his banner, his best bet would likely be to start with minor warlords that he could easily intimidate or defeat and absorb what remains of their forces that will work with him until he masses a fleet comporable to the larger warlords, which shouldn't be hard since Byss will still have recalled most of the cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships and dreadnoughts leaving destroyers as the battleships of the Warlord fleets and ships of the line like the Executor SDNs so rare and so powerful as to be monsters.

Without Rebel interference Zsinj would likely have managed to successfully keep both of his SDNs and would likely be Thrawn's most significant opponent in unifying the empire with Isard, assuming she has been able to keep control of Coruscant, probably comming in second. An arrangement which both will cooperate to unify the Empire with each planning for the other's untimely death after Zsinj is defeated.

When the reborn Emperor emerges he will be facing Thrawn's empire. Palpatine will have a considerable advantage in firepower seeing as even with Thrawn's distaste for unnecessary losses, damage to the Imperial fleet in a unification campaign is still going to be significant. Shipyards will not likely be at full production capacity yet since shipping, supply lines and suppliers of raw materials will likely be the priority targets of the last warlords who won't surrender power but know they are going to loose anyway.

What Thrawn does when presented with a reborn Emperor who outguns him is a very good question. If he chooses to fight, he looses, Palpatine has at least some degree of prescience, he foresaw the rebels attacking at Endor but could not see Vader's betrayal at the critical moment and Palpatine has as mentioned before, the big guns of the Empire, he has the superweapons he left laying around for a rainy day that Thrawn hasn't found himself yet and a portion of Thrawn's empire will ultimately defect but not so much as it would be under a more malevolent leader.

Immediately after Thrawn has been defeated - likely having been bottled up in the unknown regions - and the damage to the galactic economy is at its most severe is when the Vong will invade. How much of the Imperial fleet is left after the fighting of the warlords, the unification war and Palpatine's reconquest of his empire from the Empire's greatest tactician is uncertain but even if its close to what the New Republic had, the Vong defeat is inevitable since Palpatine will have no qualms about scorched earth tactics to whittle down the Vong until no matter how much of the galaxy they've conquered, they've lost because they haven't conquered anything that wasn't fought tooth and nail for and then ultimately razed before being surrendered. The cost to exterminate every last Vong will likely be considered too high even for Palpatine and he may merely push them back into the unknown regions to keep the exiled Thrawn and the Chiss occupied while Palpatine rebuilds.

That's my take at least.

[Sarevok]

If the Executor was present after the DS was destroyed, Piett would have ordered alpha strikes on the Rebel cruisers, totally destroying the rebel fleet in minutes. Its what he wanted to do to start with. Less than 10 cruisers against the 20-odd ISDs still afloat and the SDN? Toasty.

Hmmm so they could have taken out Ackbar and his command staff, the Rebel commando team containing key players like the Skywalkers, Han Solo. Could the Rebel Alliance fight effectively after losing important people like them ?

[Wild Karrde]

If the Executor was present after the DS was destroyed, Piett would have ordered alpha strikes on the Rebel cruisers, totally destroying the rebel fleet in minutes. Its what he wanted to do to start with. Less than 10 cruisers against the 20-odd ISDs still afloat and the SDN? Toasty.

Hmmm so they could have taken out Ackbar and his command staff, the Rebel commando team containing key players like the Skywalkers, Han Solo. Could the Rebel Alliance fight effectively after losing important people like them ?

That brings up another point. Where was Mon Motha during the Battle of Endor?

[Elheru Aran]

If the Executor was present after the DS was destroyed, Piett would have ordered alpha strikes on the Rebel cruisers, totally destroying the rebel fleet in minutes. Its what he wanted to do to start with. Less than 10 cruisers against the 20-odd ISDs still afloat and the SDN? Toasty.

Hmmm so they could have taken out Ackbar and his command staff, the Rebel commando team containing key players like the Skywalkers, Han Solo. Could the Rebel Alliance fight effectively after losing important people like them ?

That brings up another point. Where was Mon Motha during the Battle of Endor?

Two options: either a.) on the command ship (unlikely, very doubtful) or b.) in hiding on a sympathetic planet along with the civilian leadership of the Alliance (more probable IMO).

The second option is better because, in the event of total defeat-- which was a very likely possibility, even not knowing that the DSII was active-- the Rebels would at least have a small basis to rebuild from. Mothma was a respected Senator; her status as such would get some respect, at least, from potential Rebels.

[Solauren]

if Executor had survived, there would have been no time of the warlords.

Part of the reason the emperor was laying low until after Thrawn's defeat was everyone knew he was dead. That and being stuck in one of your force-users bodies is a rather annoying problem.

Palpatine could have easily (even in his trapped state) arranged for a story that he escaped the Death Star (or was never on it) and made it to Executor, but was injured and needed time to heal, and put Thrawn in charge of the Imperial military.

No fuss, no muss.

And if anyone got any ideas ANYWAY, well, most of the Imperial fleet would be beside Executor + it's commander (in this case, Thrawn with a Super Star Destroyer is a terrifying), and in a few months, Eclipse would have been ready to Superlaser any warlord that got bright ideas...

When the Vong show up, well, the Empire gets some interesting biological weapons to play with, and a way to spread out beyond the galaxy.

Man, good thing that A-Wing DID hit