Let me clarify the suggestion I'm making here, and see if we can actually deal with it as a suggestion, and rather than a definitive case (which seems to be the misconception that is causing an argument here, sorry if that's my fault for poor wording). I'm not trying to prove an argument, I'm just trying to suggest a possible theory. I conceeded earlier because I felt that I was giving the wrong impression and causing this to get heated, so I'll move on to a new point.
I am now making this point: Is it not possible that a cloak was involved in some form, in tandem with Palpatine's force powers?
My reasoning for this suggestion is that a plan involving BOTH Palpatine's force powers AND a cloak is more reasonable than one purely involving Palpy's force powers. This is because it would make things massively simpler in terms of recordable evidence which would have to be dealt with by Palpatine in some way.
Could he do it without a cloak? Quite possibly. Would it be much easier to do it with a cloak? Definitely.
By cloaking the Lucy, and then using his force powers to guide the ship in (not necessarily bring it down: ref- Joruus C'Boath), the visual evidence has been almost removed in one fell sweep. Yes, there are issues with collisions etc, but I believe these could be resolved by clearing a flight vector (and if the landing zone IS the works, then lower atmosphere traffic will not be massive). Yes, there are issues with engine emissions, but again these can be solved (or lessened) as above, and are present regardless of how the ship is landed (I would point out that the Lusankya may well have it's repulsor sled installed at this time).
Ah, so Palpatine would only be able to influence mechanical surveillance equipment when it's pointed at him?
I'm not familiar with the source in question, I thought you meant the individual had cloaked themselves, rather than directly affected the mechanical systems. Regardless, I'm not aware of a source which describes controlling machines on this scale in tandem with controlling massive amounts of people. I'm not saying this proves Palpatine couldn't do it, because it doesn't, I'm saying this may show it would have made things simpler if a cloak was used.
You seem to be forgetting that Imperial Intelligence used the damn ship as a prison and interrogation center.
And you seem to be forgetting that Isard, as Director of II, could find no explanation for how it was done. If II operatives knew, she would know.
Doubtful. No one would check video logs of most droids, and almost all the rest would be lost in routine memory wipes. That, along with Palpatine's Force powers, solves the problem.
But if even one recording survives, then there is evidence to prove what happened. Can Palpatine take that risk? Clearly the lengths he went to to prevent information leaking out suggests to me that he wouldn't do so.
Ah, concede your argument and immediately present it again in the next post? Brilliant strategy!
Do you want to get the thread closed now then? Because apparently this has been decided, and the idea that I might want to continue discussion with others is ridiculous. I never wanted to prove that a cloak was definitely used, I just want to put the possibility on the table for discussion. Members have pointed out problems with the idea that only a cloak was used, so I agreed that that was not possible. I then suggested that a hybrid scheme might have been used. Why is this objectionable?
Thanks for the backhanded concession. In case you failed to notice, you rather obviousyl didn't give your "cloaking" theory a great deal of thought, but when you get called on it you tried bluffing your way through (again, without giving it a great deal of thought.)
My apologies, I didn't intend this to be the case. You are correct in that I didn't form a cogent argument for the idea that only a cloak was used, but then I didn't really intend to - I was just trying to suggest one of many possible ideas (which you have now correctly pointed out as impractical). I agree that there needs to be force intevention from Palpatine on a considerable level, but is it unreasonable to suggest that a cloak could have been used in tandem with this?
I commented that Luke has "fucked with" electronic surveillance and recording gear to cover his tracks/obscure his presence in the Black Fleet crisis (partiuclarily Tyrant's Test).
But has this been done on such a scale before?
At most, that requires one or two assumptions on the part of Palpatine's abilities. (or what he could pull off) and they aren't that grandiose, given that the situation is one that allows him ample preparation, time, and access to assistants who could cover otehr aspects (like screwing with droids or electronics or whatnot.)
All good points, but does this necessarily mean that the use of a cloak would have been too complicated to negate the possible benefits when used in tandem with Palpatine's force powers?