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Posted: 2003-12-23 04:53pm
by Sea Skimmer
Simply knocking down a tree isn't enough, you need to be able to get over the resulting debris, and the AT-AT cannot lift is legs very high. Combine a field of huge fallen trees while remotely rough terrain an AT-AT would soon find the situation impassable.
Posted: 2003-12-23 04:58pm
by Darth Raptor
The Battle of Endor kind of makes one wonder exactly what it was about walkers that was so "all-terrain". The only thing I can think of is they didn't have some of the peculiar flaws common to repulsorcraft, but wouldn't wheeled vehicles or tanks be preferable to a robotic mech?
Posted: 2003-12-23 05:29pm
by Ender
Lazy Raptor wrote:The Battle of Endor kind of makes one wonder exactly what it was about walkers that was so "all-terrain". The only thing I can think of is they didn't have some of the peculiar flaws common to repulsorcraft, but wouldn't wheeled vehicles or tanks be preferable to a robotic mech?
Not against mines. The Walker type vehicle are used by clonetroopers and stormtroopers: The Republic/Empire's marines. It can just walk over the mines and those that explode are too far below them to do any damage. Now regular army does use treaded, wheeled, and repulsar vehicles.
Posted: 2003-12-23 05:39pm
by Darth Raptor
I thought the walkers were under the jurisdiction of the Army, not the stromtroopers. The Army phased out heavy wheeled assault vehicles like the juggernaut in favor of the AT-AT, which in turn was also favored over hovertanks and the like. As for mines, wouldn't having a foot blown off total an AT-PT, AT-ST or AT-AT? I can see the AT-TE limping home however.
Posted: 2003-12-23 05:40pm
by Ender
Lazy Raptor wrote:I thought the walkers were under the jurisdiction of the Army, not the stromtroopers. The Army phased out heavy wheeled assault vehicles like the juggernaut in favor of the AT-AT, which in turn was also favored over hovertanks and the like. As for mines, wouldn't having a foot blown off total an AT-PT, AT-ST or AT-AT? I can see the AT-TE limping home however.
No.
Posted: 2003-12-23 05:44pm
by Darth Raptor
Huh? So you're saying not having a leg is not a fatal flaw for a 100 ton robot? Or are you saying that there isn't a mine powerful to do the job? In the case of the scout walkers and AT-PTs, I would beg to differ, their armor is nothing to write home about.
Posted: 2003-12-23 06:38pm
by Ender
Lazy Raptor wrote:Huh? So you're saying not having a leg is not a fatal flaw for a 100 ton robot? Or are you saying that there isn't a mine powerful to do the job? In the case of the scout walkers and AT-PTs, I would beg to differ, their armor is nothing to write home about.
I was stating that your entire post was wrong. As I already explained and is shown by the Imperial Sourcebook, Walkers belong to the stormtroopers, the marines of the Empire. That eliminates half of your post right there. I was also saying no it would not hamper it because we have seen walkers take strikes to the legs greater then mines with no problems. Unless of course you would love to take the moronic position of multi KT landmines being used against infantry and vehicles.
Posted: 2003-12-23 07:39pm
by Darth Raptor
AT-AT conceded, we see this in TESB, but we never see AT-STs absorbing turbolaser hits. In fact, they can't withstand two swinging logs or a hard fall, let alone four hits from a laser cannon. By extension the armor on an AT-PT would be even less.
Posted: 2003-12-23 07:51pm
by Tribun
You forget, that the AT-AT is by far NOT the heaviest walker of the Empire. Take as example the one called "Ultra-Heavy" by Saxton. That thing is a least double the size of an AT-AT!
Also, there are lot of bipedal, better armored walkers. I bet they simply used the AT-ST on Endor because of overconfidence.
So you can't say that the Empire only got one good armored walker.
Posted: 2003-12-23 07:58pm
by Darth Raptor
There are several models of AT-AT, the ones in General Veers' Blizzard unit were the latest and the greatest at that time. I was refering to the bipeds because they don't make sense if the only reason you're using walkers in the first place is the fear of mines.
Posted: 2003-12-23 08:03pm
by Sea Skimmer
Ender wrote: Unless of course you would love to take the moronic position of multi KT landmines being used against infantry and vehicles.
The US Army did it.
Posted: 2003-12-23 08:06pm
by Darth Raptor
Sea Skimmer wrote:Ender wrote: Unless of course you would love to take the moronic position of multi KT landmines being used against infantry and vehicles.
The US Army did it.
Uhh... I don't think we have anything quite that powerful.
It'd be nice though!

Posted: 2003-12-24 12:12am
by Ender
Sea Skimmer wrote:Ender wrote: Unless of course you would love to take the moronic position of multi KT landmines being used against infantry and vehicles.
The US Army did it.
a) that was the british, not us
b) I've never seen anything on thier yield
Posted: 2003-12-24 12:35am
by Ender
Lazy Raptor wrote:AT-AT conceded, we see this in TESB, but we never see AT-STs absorbing turbolaser hits. In fact, they can't withstand two swinging logs
Momentum
or a hard fall,
Momentum
let alone four hits from a laser cannon. [/quote]Intensity and agaisnt the body, not the legs.
By extension the armor on an AT-PT would be even less.
Justify that position. We are talking the legs here as those would be what are stepping on the mines, and the legs of an AT-PT and its stance are far more secure.
Posted: 2003-12-24 01:09am
by Darth Raptor
The AT-PT's weakness to mines has nothing to do with its stance. It's by far the smallest of the walkers and its small stature means there isn't enough distance between the mine and the command pod to significantly negate the damage. Didn't you say that the whole point of a walker is for its legs to keep it up off the ground to protect the body from splash damage from a mine? In the AT-PT this advantage is minimal at best. Point conceded in regards to armor strength of head vs. legs, as this is backed up by canon. But if an AT-PT would strike a mine the head will be taking the blast.
Posted: 2003-12-24 01:28am
by Stormbringer
Tribun wrote:I bet they simply used the AT-ST on Endor because of overconfidence.
No, they used it because it was the best walker for the job and it did it's job well. They were utterly routing the Rebel/Ewok forces before Chewbacca hijacked the one. It was not that the AT-ST was inadequate to the job; it's that troops and officers employing them were badly unprepared.
Tribun wrote:So you can't say that the Empire only got one good armored walker.
No one is saying that. What we've been pointing out is that the terrain made the back entrance impassable to the larger walker, explaining their absence.
Posted: 2003-12-24 04:44am
by vakundok
I still cannot see, how could the trees stop an AT-AT. There was no direct example of any AT-ST destroying a tree only to get through (at least I cannot remember), so we can assume that there were more than enough space between the really big trees (those that cannot be bulldozed by the leg of an AT-AT) for the slope of an AT-AT to place. The only problem I can see occurs when a broken and fallen tree and the ground underneath is strong enough to hold approximately half the weight of an AT-AT without much deformation (the ground remains straight and the tree remains curved, so it can move while the AT-AT is standing on it) and the walker is forced to step on it. I do not know about the strenght of those trees and the weight of an AT-AT to decide whether it is a real problem at all.
Merry Christmas!
Posted: 2003-12-24 01:04pm
by Ender
Lazy Raptor wrote:The AT-PT's weakness to mines has nothing to do with its stance. It's by far the smallest of the walkers and its small stature means there isn't enough distance between the mine and the command pod to significantly negate the damage. Didn't you say that the whole point of a walker is for its legs to keep it up off the ground to protect the body from splash damage from a mine? In the AT-PT this advantage is minimal at best. Point conceded in regards to armor strength of head vs. legs, as this is backed up by canon. But if an AT-PT would strike a mine the head will be taking the blast.
Magic word: Intensity.
IIRC, the head is 3 meters off the ground. If the mine was 1 kiloton in strength, that means that the walker will get 3 MJ per square centimeter. That is far weaker then a blaster bolt (which are both more powerful and far more intense), and we know the things can shrug off blaster bolts.
Posted: 2003-12-26 10:07am
by PainRack
Sea Skimmer wrote:Simply knocking down a tree isn't enough, you need to be able to get over the resulting debris, and the AT-AT cannot lift is legs very high. Combine a field of huge fallen trees while remotely rough terrain an AT-AT would soon find the situation impassable.
Yet, the AT-AT was able to tranverse the north ridge of Hoth, where just recently, a blizzard was flying around creating presumably deep snow.