Completely agree with you. Echoes of Battle of Britain in the space-dogfights, Hannibal in the space-trench warfare. It they looked terrifying the first time they came out of the snowstorm on the silver screen
The empire made ATATs thinking their enemies would be horrified and demoralized as they saw hulking walking machines slowly lumbering towards them The actual reaction from their enemies was something along the lines of “why are a bunch of robot camels walking towards us” And or “I just had a really funny idea, you guys ever tied your friends’ shoes together in elementary school?”
The AT-AT is a walking fortress. Not supposed to let the enemy get under them. It's not about being powerful, it's about projecting power. Just like how castles used to work. They are the rook piece. The AT-AT was under imagined and underutilized. Almost all of its blind spots could be covered by a single junk gun. 😊 It even has room to store some magnetic, catwalks and ladders. No need for railings. The Emperor had OSHA dealt with. Then you can use them as literal guard towers.
Did you know a storm trooper in the books about Star Wars cantina characters realized the weakness from the air. He was training to pilot a ATAT. During training when he noticed a fighter coming down on him he kneeled his ATAT to protect the walker. He was punished and sent to Tatooine and was the trooper who found the piece of metal and said ' look sir, Droids '.
It's a flawed design as it's easily seen. A vehicle with a lower silhouette would be much better. In real armor vs. armor fights it's usually the first vehicle spotted which loses.
@@PatrickComley-1973 And he should have been punished. He should have sat the butt down, to get elevation with the guns. The biggest problem with Star Wars strategy and tactics is it's almost always written by people who are good at neither. So each side is kind of retarded.
LOL. The timing of an ad just took this video from interesting and entertaining to funny: Alan said "As one of the wisest men in Star Was said" then an ad with Gordan Ramsey came on with "How can a stainless steel pan be nonstick?" The timing was perfect.
I believe that the First Order solved "The cable round the legs" problem by the highly technical solution of adding sharp blades to the shins of their Gorilla walker!
@@alejandronieto4212Not to mention in the event they *do* get destroyed or otherwise mission-killed, they won't just topple over, making it easier to just salvage them later and maybe make them useable again.
@@Gen_ShadowCompany_203 THe rule only states that "If it exists, there is porn of it" - The 'porn' doesn't have to be GOOD porn in order to count. Any crude depiction qualifies.
I always saw the ATAT walker as a mobile command battle station over an assault vehicle. Used better for tactical purposes rather than aggressive combat.
Indeed, it's a shame it didn't "follow" in the AT-TE footsteps and carry an artillery piece... Hell, Artillery Walkers would be a nightmare to fight! Too bad we only have that Kenner Prototype and the First Order Compensating-for-something Gorilla Walker...
After watching Clone Wars, I'd have put the AT-AT as a C2 (Command and Control) platform with AT-TEs as the main fighting force with, of course, AT-STs as scouts. So, 1 AT-AT, 8 AT-TEs (new versions with better armor and armored turret) and 4 AT-STs per unit. Maybe modify the AT-AT design to add AA turrets on the top, and have TIE support
@@oldmanjim2376 I've always thought of it in this situation too! I personally was so focused on the command and control it could provide, I didn't think about AA turrets on it too, that is a great idea!
Of course the empire would never lie to you this is merely anti imperial propaganda please report to your nearest imperial facility for reconditioning!
“AT-TE in a swamp.” Man, I do not want to be part of the recovery crew sent to retrieve it if it bogs-and you think getting one boot stuck in the mud is bad.
You would have to drop in and pump out a caissons just to free the foot, and you would probably have to build a bunch of caissons all the way from the water's edge to the walker, sink some pillars into those caissons and build a platform all the way out to the AT-AT. You might even need a dredging barge to do that. So, basically, to get the AT-AT out of the water you're basically building a bridge.
Rebels were thinking they are winning the battle of Ord Vaug. They sure felt proud of themselves - they dug up on a planet right at the Core's gates. Fortified it, too - surface-to orbit ion cannons, shields over every major city, tanks and guns from looted Imperial armories. Orbital bombardment would take years, and repulsorlift assault, likewise, was impossible. They were winning, alright... until we deployed AT-AT walkers. They went right through the shields, shrugging off blaster fire and stepping on armored cars and war droids. After 6 hours vaughian royalty and their rebel friends capitulated. The Force and "hope" can only do so much against Kuati durasteel".
That is an important point, aircraft and hover vehicles are apparently incapable of passing through shields while walkers and tracked vehicles can, and for some reason Empire and other SW powers never developed huge tanks like Ogres or Bolos so SW walkers actually have thicker armor and shields than tanks.
@@AnalystPrime You're onto something, except, repulsor vehicles can get through shields. They always could and this is a rare case where I can say something about Star Wars definitively. To get a repulsor vehicle through shields all you have to do is drive towards the shield, shut off the vehicle for a second, and then turn it back on again once it's through the shield. Nothing more than a disposable toboggan would be necessary to ensure any repulsor vehicle could perform this trick. There's also the underrated technology of normal winged flight if you want to deliver things to the surface of planets that have an atmosphere, or just dropping big things that explode if you want to skip a step.
@@iivin4233 Shields that allow fast objects to pass would not have any effect on bombs and artillery making them useless as shields(the air barriers seen in hangars being the sole exception) so we can safely assume if a defender has a shield then enemy aircraft and speeders would simply splat against it as ineffectively as their shots, otherwise the defender would not bother wasting resources. But even though there has to be a way for enemy to push through a shield so we can have a dramatic battle, it clearly slows them down which is bad news for lightweight hovercraft that rely on dodging to survive. As to why nobody uses heavily armored repulsorcraft, either the cost would get so high only something like Palpatine's World Eater superweapons would even try as a working military needs cheaply mass produced weapons not rare expensive hangar queens, or this is a case of how cars, steam locomotives and rockets all have "engines": the repulsors on a starship and a speeder are not actually comparable despite using the same name.
The AT-AT was my favorite vehicle as a child and still is a favorite today. In regards to a ground army, there needs to be boots on the ground to hold whatever you take.
The ATAT remind me a lot of war elephants. Yes, you can endlessly argue how objectively impractical they may be, But that doesn’t count for the real life horror factor seeing one of these things charging at you with range attack coming down on you from on high.
In the game Empire at War, the ATAT makes assaulting planets easy. I didn't think much of it because of the movies but this game actually changed my opinion on it. I still don't understand or like the gorilla fists the new ones have but it's a decent tank/transport when you're not up against an equal strength military.
Man invading planets with just two AT-ATs, AT-STs as escort, the anti air tanks and some artillery units is so fun. Who needs an endless legion of stormtroopers and mass wave attacks when u can surgically strike a rebel base with the walkers and their own trooper complement
@@jeanmichael2002 Agreed. My only complaint is that their crawl is so slow that it takes them ages to move to the enemy victory point. This makes me think, its no wonder the Rebels were able to evacuate most of their people off Hoth by the time Veers and Blizzard squad made it to Echo Base's shield generator and took it out.
why do people hate the cybertruck so much... im not a huge fans of evs but I see stainless steel, "dangerous for pedestrians" and i think ultimate zombie crushing truck
@jtjames79 true, I mean the thing looks like it hasn't finished rendering or is one of those starter items in an pay to win freemuim game , though would probably be still a pain to maintain and clean
I've always viewed the AT-AT as a modern take an a siege tower. It's not meant to be involved in direct fighting where the lack of side or under mounted weapons would be a problem. It's supposed to blast away from max ranged using its height to fire over obstacles, or over other forces like the AT-ST or Juggernaut.
If i remmber from teh battle of hoth there was a scene of some AtSt's walking int eh back ground so makes sence, the ATAT is a siege weapon and deploys teh troops for teh main assault with ATST support.
Tracked vehicles struggle in forests, walker tanks are a solution that uses armored legs instead of vulnerable thrusters. More efficient than thrusters too. Also most IEDs that hit Humvees were found to lose something like 80 percent of their destructive power after 3 feet. So a walker tank that elevates the main hull above that height actually make sense when fighting separatists on remote planets that lack a highway infrastructure.
@@papapalps2415 Hovercraft might have higher speed but waste ungodly amount of fuel when just hovering in place, that is why mecha and tracked/wheeled vehicles are much cheaper to operate, making them more efficient. And yes, while the joints in the legs might be weak points the foot itself is a very thick slab of armor so most land mines will never reach the vulnerable parts of that leg. Likely to actually threaten a mech with a mine you would need naval mines, and if you had those to spare the enemy fleet would not have landed walkers on your planet in the first place...
@@dewdew80 It isn't more efficient, no. Mecha, as a whole, isn't actually 'efficient' at anything. It is an inherently broken concept when applying even the slightest degree of physics, vehicular design, and basic common sense.
@@AnalystPrime I have no idea what you mean by hovercraft 'wasting ungodly amounts of fuel'. Assuming we are discussing SW, then no, they factually don't, lul. Repulsorlifts are some of THE most energy efficient devices in the franchise, to a degree that borders on comical. This isn't an actual argument; Mines that are sufficient to damage or destroy a normal, equally armored tank are always going to be just aa or more efficient at doing the same to walkers. Losing a track is every bit as much of a death sentence as losing function in a leg, except likely worse in some ways (an AT-AT losing a leg, for example, results in the entire walker topping over seconds later).
When I was in the Gulf out in the desert defending oil wells and platforms ( I was a combat security contractor for oil companies ) if we couldn't get our guys positioned up high a helio hovering overhead would do the job but if we had a oil platform I or one other guy with a high power rifle would also work.
I remember reading at some point that the height was so they could literally peak their weapons over the terrain/foliage/buildings to clear the way while keep the troops protected
What you want in a vehicle that's meant to observe over terrain and protect soldiers is for it to not be able to look to the sides or behind itself without walking in a circle very slowly.
has to be said, the change in doctrine to not risk armoured vehicles in urban environments makes sense... why send in a walker for patrol duties when probe droids will do the same job?
A dark joke would be to point out that these days they don't need to send a drone or a droid. They just send a bomb. But your point is correct for situations where armies don't want to do that. That's one reason why CIS is and has always been, by complete accident, the smartest military in Star Wars. It only makes sense that both Star Wars and fans alike would buy into their role as buffoons..
The reason the star fortress thing was so easily destroyed is that unlike in SW, altitude played a significant part in air combat, bombers weren't just heavily armed and armoured they flew higher and faster than most fighters (ideally). If a b17 attacked a German city at low altitude like they did in that SW scene the result would've been pretty similar
The weakness exploited in ESB you could say is hard to exploit. A snow speeder only has one tow cable before it needs to replenish it plus it takes a seriously skilled pilot to consistently wrap around the at-at and hope the tow cable doesn’t just randomly get stuck then you’ll be flying out of control and crash.
@@BabyKnxckz While the joints are weak points, the rest of the leg is basically just slabs of battleship grade armor. A typical tank has few inches of armor on the sides, about a foot on the front, and getting hit even if it does not penetrate the other side of the armor can send fragments that kill the crew and damage the internal components. To destroy a mech leg you need to hit one spot with enough firepower to completely remove at least few cubic feet of material, possibly cubic yards for big mech like ATAT. We can see in ESB that the ATAT foot is thicker than Luke is tall, and a land mine would not do anything just penetrating that unless it still has enough power to annihilate the ankle behind all that armor, or alternatively just remove the foot pad itself. And all that would just stop the mech from moving unless you get lucky and it falls over, which actually isn't so dangerous for a vehicle that has inertial compensators.
@@AnalystPrimeDo you understand how joints work? You know, the moving components? The second that is mildly damaged, the leg is not moving. Once the ATAT is stuck in place it is easily destroyed in multiple ways. Air strike, artillery, flanking, etc. The design is completely awful. It has a neck weakpoint… why? It is incredibly slow. Armor means nothing when the solution is to invest the same resources in a big enough gun.
@@LiamN4321 "while the joints are weak points" he's just talking about the non joint leg parts, nothing to do with the total viability of the weapon in a near-peer conflict. The whole point of all this is to show its kinda okay against losers who don't have access to cutting edge weapons like the empire does.
@@LiamN4321 You realize there is now a shortage of space wizards who can run across the battlefield dodging fire and jump ten meters to cut that joint with their magic swords? Even in a more realistic universe you aren't going to hit a small fast swinging target with a heavy slow firing cannon without lot of luck, especially as it will be behind all the trees, buildings and whatever other cover there is when battles happen in natural terrain instead of the table they do stop motion animation on. If you can see the legs you are either on a flat plain where every enemy can also see you or got so close that you are an obvious target, neither of which is a situation where you want to stop to aim for a difficult trick shot. And even if you do hit it, that joint is still armored so to have any chance of doing anything you must use a proper antitank weapon, meaning you should be using it to destroy heavy vehicles instead of wasting time and ammo trying to be fancy. The joints are certainly a weak spot but in a regular battle enemies will just try to shoot the body because it is easier to hit and will give more immediate results.
If i remember correctly, some planets had disruptive effects on repulsor engines and some bases had a repulsorlift jammer making the use of small and medium sized hover craft impossible. And with difficult terrain that hampers wheeled and tracked vehicles, a walker is a good choice
@Psub950 it would definitely be close. I totally agree that it would definitely be interesting. Specialized troops, or just basic infantry vs infantry?
Hannibal used elephants to get through mountains for a reason. Beaches, swamps, thick forests, rocky broken terrain, tundra, deep snow, hills and trenches are where large walkers make sense. Anywhere wheels or tracks can't go.
Might also be because he didn't really have an alternative. Wheeled and tracked vehicles didn't exist. It's like saying swords and spears are superior weapons to guns because the Roman legions used them.
Indeed, people really put down Legged locomotion in combat because, "Joints are so vulnerable!" but hard to traverse terrain is hard to traverse for a reason! You need an adaptable means of locomotion, which is going to complex no matter how you do it.
@@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem Wheels existed in the time of Hannibal! But Wheels don't like uneven terrain, like what you'd find on a MOUNTAIN, preferring Infrastructure like level roads, or at the very least clear paths. Tracks don't fair much better and are far more complex.
@@DonaldWWitt Wheels did, but not vehicles, unless you want to count an animal or person pulling a wheeled platform, at which point you're using the elephant or other animal anyway.
Glad you said it so I don't have to. Maybe AT-ATs use repulsors to keep themselves up. Gen Tech is screwed either way. If repulsors work the way he supposes in water then ground pressure is a thing and his AT-ATs will sink. If it doesn't, then repulsors are a much more powerful asset that would outclass any legs.
@@iivin4233 The problem with repulsors or any sort of force beam support is that the ground still feels the mass of the vehicle. If the beam spreads, then the mass will be more evenly distributed, but the vehicle will be more unstable as the energy dissipates by the square of distance. The other problem is the fact that steering an essentially frictionless vehicle is difficult (see maneuvering a GEV, for example). The best answer to the repulsor-problem, in my opinion, is the "gravity -polarizer" found in Larry Niven's Universe. The device simply reverses the local effect of gravity on the containing object, but it uses huge amounts of energy. In that instance, ground pressure is negated by the operation of the device. However ....
I'm a Battletech player. So yeah walker vehicles are awesome! Even though battlemechs are mostly two legs, there are some quad designs. But definitely a fan of walkers. 😁
I agree on most things, accept that a repulsor with 8 foot of clearance NOT preforming insanely better off-road then a tracked vehicle. Ground clearance alone that is insane. repulsors also work on water.
My thought was repulser lifts require being on the outside of armor making them more vulnerable to even small arms for a mobility kill. The other issue is a repulser is an energy based field and can be detected further away. The Walkers in this way are "stealthier" since when the stop they emit zero energy. These would be the two reasons the CIS used them when others didn't, they used huge armies so stealth was out, and if one of their 1000 hover tanks got immobilized who cared, it could keep firing from that location.
I subscribed to you because of your detailed explanations of stuff. Please remind people that these vehicles were NOT designed for practicality, they were designed by looks and that is it. No reality in SW, just fantasy, but enough reality to make it almost believable.
You mentioned about 3 minutes in that the Empire wouldn't have to be concerned with land mines because they were the only faction fielding a large conventional army, and that they would be the only faction laying mines. If you look at the history of modern asymmetrical warfare, land mines have been an effectively used by guerilla forces, especially against armor. The use of both professionally manufactured and improvised landmines against armored convoys during the USSR's occupation of Afghanistan in the '80s especially comes to mind. In the Empire's situation it's very reasonable for them to consider weapons like mines to be more of a threat than enemy armor or heavy weapons. It's far more likely that an insurgent cell can hide a pit full of explosives on a road than build and maintain hover-tanks capable of stranding up to a galaxy-spanning space faring civilization.
"They wouldn't need to be worried about landmines, because they are the only conventional land army anyways!" Holy fu+king shit, lmfao. God, these people are comedy gold. Who's going to tell them, about the last...what, 20 years in the Middle East?
Not the same thing. Small guerilla forces do not have factories producing land mines in quantity. And unlike Earth, with communists supplying armament to the guerilla, in SW they would fix that rapidly by blowing up the guilty planet. 'What does it say on the land mine's tag? Made on Alderaan? Yeah, We'll solve the problem in a minute.'
The kind of terrain that'd arguably be a huge weakness for walkers: soft/hollow ground. Enemy sets a trap over a hollow space beneath the surface of an area, as soon as the walker sets foot over that area, they'll be liable to fall right in and incur severe damage to their limbs.
Some other thought processes that crossed my mind on this that I don't have enough lore to answer: What are the logistics at the Empire's disposal for a far-out rim world like Hoth? Maybe the AT-AT wasn't the perfect fit for the ice world invasion, but it may be all that Vader's fleet had on-hand and they had to "make due" to jump on the opportunity provided by the probe droid's discovery. And, as brought up in this video, they didn't do that bad in the battle for Hoth. Heck, if the driver of the vehicle that got wrapped in tow cables just halted his advance, the thing would never have toppled over. AND the speeders were dropping like flies when they tried to make their passes. Even Luke got shot down shortly after his victory, and he was covered in P.L.O.T. armor.
The ATAT is smartly designed for the Empire. You don’t know what threats you will need to clash with, so you build a vehicle that can be a tank, IFF, artillery, general cargo transport and a mobile observation post.
I feel like the AT-AT should of had some anti-air capabilities. Its certainly big enough to fit an arsenal of homing missiles to take out airborne hostiles. It surprises me that Veers didn't think of that, for he should have at gotten some AT-AAs to accompany Blizzard force to take out those snow speeders.
Another bonus to the height of the ATAT is that it can more easily engage enemy forces hidden in high rises. During the invasion of Chechnya by the Russian Army in the 90s and 2000s, a large amount of vehicles, especially BMP-2s, were lost because they lacked the elevation angles to engage rebel forces. This directly resulted in the development of the BMP Terminator, with extreme angles of elevation, while being built on the T-72 chassis, providing plenty of armor to engage infantry.
The AT-AT was at such a ridiculous size for its imposing frame. If you can see it coming over the horizon (not unlike how they did on Hoth), you can’t tell me that put the fear of Palpatine in unruly populaces.
Channeling Jack O'Neil: both the ISD and the AT-AT are weapons of terror, not weapons of war. Also, the Imperial military is more of a civil guard, not really a fighting force.
walkers and their real life analogs - ROBODOGS - can carry heavier payloads than flying drones, and excel at loitering! Though the narrow terrain niche of being too bad for wheels vs being too bad for all ground vehicles probably requires some really good geology intel
In all the games were you can add them to your army. I found 3 ATAT, 6 ATST, 4 ATAA plus 2 rear units. Keep the apart until they get in range of the base. One will be lost, but that's war. ATAT are good for cover fire, transport, and assault.
The parody of the "death of the tank" argument, which has been happening since September of 1916, and recently regained traction (pun very much intended) is appreciated.
AT-ST i get becUse it's a all terrain scout vehicle meant for scouting and can be equipped with heavy weaponry like grenade launchers to function as a assault vehicle. The AT-AT, i always see it as a All terrain Troop trasnport or All terrain Artillery Platform. It's useful for urban combat but when out in the open like Hoth then it's somewhat useless
This reminds me of an RPG campaign I was a part of some years back where a strike team was sent to either sabotage or steal the production plans for a newer, better armed and more stable version of the AT-AT that would have made anyone fielding it all but invulnerable in ground combat. Among other things, it had bubble turrets on the side and the legs were a bit offset, angled outward from the central body making it easier to "squat" instead of "kneel" when disembarking troopers. It also had the AT-AA's Pod on the top and even small repulsors under the belly that could push away mines, small charges, solid rockets, and cutting blades around the knees to prevent the tow cable trick. Even the "neck joint" was up-armored. It was a beast based on the AT-TE, and the MT-AT, with the LAAT bubble turrets and the AT-AA leg shape and A-Pod smashed in. Transport capacity suffered due to the increased armor and armament, but this was a front line heavy assault version rather than the standard "bring our troops and speeders to the front" version. Properly designed and utilized, it would be a beast, but much like the vaunted TIE Defender, it was VERY expensive so your random imperial governor would wince at those per unit costs when he could just build some cheaper units and siphon the rest off to his personal pleasure palace... TL:DR: Good video, makes many points also encountered by my gaming group long long ago.
obviously they're cool, but ridiculous, if you want the "high ground" that's what close air support is for and considering that repulser lifts can't be that bad considering the vehicles are ALWAYS hovering which would be the equivalent to always having you car idle when not in use also you would have to consider the cost of transporting a large and heavy vehicle
Can you do a video on the AT-DP and their role with patrolling cities / urban environments and small towns and what not? I think it's really underrated and hopefully we see it in live action. I know it has flaws, but that's exactly what I want you to point out.
I love me some Legged Mechs Allen, but the AT-AT was designed for looks both in and out of universe. Even Kenner made a prototype AT-AT that replaced the transport space with a big gun.
I like how the spacefaring history of the Star Wars universe is so long that they have to design ships/walkers/etc. that are still way more advanced than anything we could come up with but still have to look outdated in terms of late BBY/early ABY period tech
One of the things nobody really remembers about supereffective weapons like the explosively formed penetrator IED Is they actually have an Effective range of 100 m from the cannister source... If they are aimed properly they do not have to be in contact with or even next to their targets to slice right through them. Properly concealed and positioned they can represent a 360° threat to any armored target on every axis. You can't max armor everything: front, back, sides, above, and below.
On classic star wars battlefront 2 on Kashik i believe the hover separatist tank actually hovers over the shallow water on the beach it might not work on deeper water though its not deeper than its body anyway but it is above the water definitely from my memory
Something notable is that because of the extreme height, it's side armour is all sloped armour, functionally thicker than if it were closer to the ground.
8:09 rubble has explosives in it? You can’t convince me that a charge able to take out a tank can’t take out this things leg. It has to step over. The ap-mine argument is also not to good, mines will destroy those feet.
AT-ATs should be used in *conjunction* with smaller walkers (STs, RTs) and infantry, not alone. They're your Ultralisks -- meant to draw attention and fire, while your Zerglings tear the enemy bunkers apart. If they happen to hit something themselves, it a bonus. Looks like Veers should have played some more Starcraft. If you want to perfect the AT, I say give it back a tail turret like an AT-TE, always have STs/RTs watching its flanks, and shove a big ol' shield generator on its back, like what the big lizard things had in the Gungan army. I have the Empire of the Hand do just that with their AT-ATs in my fics, and it makes them a much better platform.
Yep, a combined arms approach is what makes tanks especially effective in modern militaries. They should also have AT-AAs. That way those pesky rebel snowspeeders wouldn't have stood a chance.
"I still remember in 3369BBY..." ok old man 🤣🤣
😂
Lol
@@GenerationTech BRUH!
Alan's been in stasis a bit, lol
The thumbnail looks like the picture your dad sends you from his trip to see the sights of famous historical battles.
“Dear sarge, kicking ass in outer space wish you were here”
This comment 😂😂😂
Are you leaving comments like this on every video 😂
@@EthanKironus8067 as many as possible
Ikr
I think they were the space version of Hannibal and his elephant cavalry. I mean they used elephants as models for the AT-AT's in filming.
The Empire should’ve added catwalks at the belly of the AT-AT with Trooper detachments to prevent those pesky Rebels from planting a detonator
Completely agree with you. Echoes of Battle of Britain in the space-dogfights, Hannibal in the space-trench warfare. It they looked terrifying the first time they came out of the snowstorm on the silver screen
@@isaackim7675 Or just any armor at all.
basically an elephant dressing up as an A7V lol
The empire made ATATs thinking their enemies would be horrified and demoralized as they saw hulking walking machines slowly lumbering towards them
The actual reaction from their enemies was something along the lines of “why are a bunch of robot camels walking towards us”
And or
“I just had a really funny idea, you guys ever tied your friends’ shoes together in elementary school?”
I can't tell if you're referencing the infamous British march, but if you are, then that's hysterical
Edit: Battle of the Somme River, July 1st 1916
The AT-AT is a walking fortress.
Not supposed to let the enemy get under them.
It's not about being powerful, it's about projecting power. Just like how castles used to work. They are the rook piece.
The AT-AT was under imagined and underutilized. Almost all of its blind spots could be covered by a single junk gun. 😊
It even has room to store some magnetic, catwalks and ladders. No need for railings. The Emperor had OSHA dealt with. Then you can use them as literal guard towers.
Did you know a storm trooper in the books about Star Wars cantina characters realized the weakness from the air. He was training to pilot a ATAT.
During training when he noticed a fighter coming down on him he kneeled his ATAT to protect the walker. He was punished and sent to Tatooine and was the trooper who found the piece of metal and said ' look sir, Droids '.
It's a flawed design as it's easily seen. A vehicle with a lower silhouette would be much better. In real armor vs. armor fights it's usually the first vehicle spotted which loses.
@@PatrickComley-1973 And he should have been punished. He should have sat the butt down, to get elevation with the guns.
The biggest problem with Star Wars strategy and tactics is it's almost always written by people who are good at neither. So each side is kind of retarded.
LOL. The timing of an ad just took this video from interesting and entertaining to funny: Alan said "As one of the wisest men in Star Was said" then an ad with Gordan Ramsey came on with "How can a stainless steel pan be nonstick?" The timing was perfect.
Mine was an NFL ad. So perfect timing. "Football is back!"
@@johnnelson4880 Apparently the ad can actually add something to the video.
And thus a friendship hath bloomed
I believe that the First Order solved "The cable round the legs" problem by the highly technical solution of adding sharp blades to the shins of their Gorilla walker!
in legends there actualy was a superior version of the atat that had this
They also had them not skip leg day. Thicc legs take more than cables to be taken down.
@@alejandronieto4212Not to mention in the event they *do* get destroyed or otherwise mission-killed, they won't just topple over, making it easier to just salvage them later and maybe make them useable again.
Simple solutions lol
iirc the late variants of ATAT had cable cutting blades on the legs too
The AT-TE mounting the tank was to funny
AND a perfect represtantion of 'rule34' in practise - If it exists, there IS porn of it! :P
What would you get if an AT-TE that humped a Challenger II tank? What would the baby look like?
@@JonarusDraconius
It would've been so much worse if it was Rule 34
@@Gen_ShadowCompany_203 THe rule only states that "If it exists, there is porn of it" - The 'porn' doesn't have to be GOOD porn in order to count. Any crude depiction qualifies.
@@JonarusDraconius - “Rule 34”. Gonna have to remember that one! 😂
Man, the way they looked with the moss in Fallen Order was amazing.
I always saw the ATAT walker as a mobile command battle station over an assault vehicle. Used better for tactical purposes rather than aggressive combat.
Indeed, it's a shame it didn't "follow" in the AT-TE footsteps and carry an artillery piece...
Hell, Artillery Walkers would be a nightmare to fight!
Too bad we only have that Kenner Prototype and the First Order Compensating-for-something Gorilla Walker...
The original first order walker seen only in the force awakens was basically a giant gun with legs.
After watching Clone Wars, I'd have put the AT-AT as a C2 (Command and Control) platform with AT-TEs as the main fighting force with, of course, AT-STs as scouts.
So, 1 AT-AT, 8 AT-TEs (new versions with better armor and armored turret) and 4 AT-STs per unit.
Maybe modify the AT-AT design to add AA turrets on the top, and have TIE support
@@oldmanjim2376 I've always thought of it in this situation too! I personally was so focused on the command and control it could provide, I didn't think about AA turrets on it too, that is a great idea!
@Jeikobu thought about the air defense aspect while watching the video. One or two automated turrets or manned turrets would work
But... But... the empire would NEVER lie to me!
Yeah I thought so too until I learned the hard way about Operation Cinder
@@chrislaurent1137 wish I could heart this lol
They told me they had cookies... They didn't.
Of course the empire would never lie to you this is merely anti imperial propaganda please report to your nearest imperial facility for reconditioning!
inb4 watching, eh?
“AT-TE in a swamp.”
Man, I do not want to be part of the recovery crew sent to retrieve it if it bogs-and you think getting one boot stuck in the mud is bad.
You would have to drop in and pump out a caissons just to free the foot, and you would probably have to build a bunch of caissons all the way from the water's edge to the walker, sink some pillars into those caissons and build a platform all the way out to the AT-AT. You might even need a dredging barge to do that. So, basically, to get the AT-AT out of the water you're basically building a bridge.
@@iivin4233 Or... you know. Call in a modified LAAT to airlift it away...
I was not prepared for topless Tarkin
That comic is hilarious
It was Casual Friday, but Tarkin took that a bit too far
Looked way too much like RFK Jr, tbh...HILARIOUS!
@@isaackim7675and no one argued with him over it. No one would dare.
@@isaackim7675I mean dude gets in to a fantasy knife fight with a subordinate while day dreaming… he’s got issues
Rebels were thinking they are winning the battle of Ord Vaug. They sure felt proud of themselves - they dug up on a planet right at the Core's gates. Fortified it, too - surface-to orbit ion cannons, shields over every major city, tanks and guns from looted Imperial armories. Orbital bombardment would take years, and repulsorlift assault, likewise, was impossible. They were winning, alright... until we deployed AT-AT walkers. They went right through the shields, shrugging off blaster fire and stepping on armored cars and war droids. After 6 hours vaughian royalty and their rebel friends capitulated. The Force and "hope" can only do so much against Kuati durasteel".
That is an important point, aircraft and hover vehicles are apparently incapable of passing through shields while walkers and tracked vehicles can, and for some reason Empire and other SW powers never developed huge tanks like Ogres or Bolos so SW walkers actually have thicker armor and shields than tanks.
@@AnalystPrime You're onto something, except, repulsor vehicles can get through shields. They always could and this is a rare case where I can say something about Star Wars definitively. To get a repulsor vehicle through shields all you have to do is drive towards the shield, shut off the vehicle for a second, and then turn it back on again once it's through the shield.
Nothing more than a disposable toboggan would be necessary to ensure any repulsor vehicle could perform this trick.
There's also the underrated technology of normal winged flight if you want to deliver things to the surface of planets that have an atmosphere, or just dropping big things that explode if you want to skip a step.
@@iivin4233 Shields that allow fast objects to pass would not have any effect on bombs and artillery making them useless as shields(the air barriers seen in hangars being the sole exception) so we can safely assume if a defender has a shield then enemy aircraft and speeders would simply splat against it as ineffectively as their shots, otherwise the defender would not bother wasting resources.
But even though there has to be a way for enemy to push through a shield so we can have a dramatic battle, it clearly slows them down which is bad news for lightweight hovercraft that rely on dodging to survive.
As to why nobody uses heavily armored repulsorcraft, either the cost would get so high only something like Palpatine's World Eater superweapons would even try as a working military needs cheaply mass produced weapons not rare expensive hangar queens, or this is a case of how cars, steam locomotives and rockets all have "engines": the repulsors on a starship and a speeder are not actually comparable despite using the same name.
The AT-AT was my favorite vehicle as a child and still is a favorite today. In regards to a ground army, there needs to be boots on the ground to hold whatever you take.
Growing up on the OT stuff, I never disliked the All Terrain Armored Transport.
The ATAT remind me a lot of war elephants. Yes, you can endlessly argue how objectively impractical they may be, But that doesn’t count for the real life horror factor seeing one of these things charging at you with range attack coming down on you from on high.
In the game Empire at War, the ATAT makes assaulting planets easy. I didn't think much of it because of the movies but this game actually changed my opinion on it. I still don't understand or like the gorilla fists the new ones have but it's a decent tank/transport when you're not up against an equal strength military.
Man invading planets with just two AT-ATs, AT-STs as escort, the anti air tanks and some artillery units is so fun. Who needs an endless legion of stormtroopers and mass wave attacks when u can surgically strike a rebel base with the walkers and their own trooper complement
@@jeanmichael2002 Agreed. My only complaint is that their crawl is so slow that it takes them ages to move to the enemy victory point. This makes me think, its no wonder the Rebels were able to evacuate most of their people off Hoth by the time Veers and Blizzard squad made it to Echo Base's shield generator and took it out.
why do people hate the cybertruck so much... im not a huge fans of evs but I see stainless steel, "dangerous for pedestrians" and i think ultimate zombie crushing truck
In a word.....F.U.G.L.Y.
The zombie blood would begin to oxidise the outer frame, so it's not really the best option
@@nervon2393 The real advantage is you can weld anything you want to it.
@jtjames79 true, I mean the thing looks like it hasn't finished rendering or is one of those starter items in an pay to win freemuim game , though would probably be still a pain to maintain and clean
Because they’re dangerous to their drivers and civilians alike (aka stinky)
I've always viewed the AT-AT as a modern take an a siege tower. It's not meant to be involved in direct fighting where the lack of side or under mounted weapons would be a problem. It's supposed to blast away from max ranged using its height to fire over obstacles, or over other forces like the AT-ST or Juggernaut.
If i remmber from teh battle of hoth there was a scene of some AtSt's walking int eh back ground so makes sence, the ATAT is a siege weapon and deploys teh troops for teh main assault with ATST support.
Tracked vehicles struggle in forests, walker tanks are a solution that uses armored legs instead of vulnerable thrusters. More efficient than thrusters too.
Also most IEDs that hit Humvees were found to lose something like 80 percent of their destructive power after 3 feet. So a walker tank that elevates the main hull above that height actually make sense when fighting separatists on remote planets that lack a highway infrastructure.
- Mecha
- Efficient
Choose one.
@@papapalps2415 I said it was more efficient than hovering, learn to read.
@@papapalps2415 Hovercraft might have higher speed but waste ungodly amount of fuel when just hovering in place, that is why mecha and tracked/wheeled vehicles are much cheaper to operate, making them more efficient.
And yes, while the joints in the legs might be weak points the foot itself is a very thick slab of armor so most land mines will never reach the vulnerable parts of that leg. Likely to actually threaten a mech with a mine you would need naval mines, and if you had those to spare the enemy fleet would not have landed walkers on your planet in the first place...
@@dewdew80 It isn't more efficient, no. Mecha, as a whole, isn't actually 'efficient' at anything. It is an inherently broken concept when applying even the slightest degree of physics, vehicular design, and basic common sense.
@@AnalystPrime I have no idea what you mean by hovercraft 'wasting ungodly amounts of fuel'. Assuming we are discussing SW, then no, they factually don't, lul. Repulsorlifts are some of THE most energy efficient devices in the franchise, to a degree that borders on comical.
This isn't an actual argument; Mines that are sufficient to damage or destroy a normal, equally armored tank are always going to be just aa or more efficient at doing the same to walkers. Losing a track is every bit as much of a death sentence as losing function in a leg, except likely worse in some ways (an AT-AT losing a leg, for example, results in the entire walker topping over seconds later).
When I was in the Gulf out in the desert defending oil wells and platforms ( I was a combat security contractor for oil companies ) if we couldn't get our guys positioned up high a helio hovering overhead would do the job but if we had a oil platform I or one other guy with a high power rifle would also work.
I remember reading at some point that the height was so they could literally peak their weapons over the terrain/foliage/buildings to clear the way while keep the troops protected
What you want in a vehicle that's meant to observe over terrain and protect soldiers is for it to not be able to look to the sides or behind itself without walking in a circle very slowly.
@@iivin4233 because they dont have cameras and sensors or walk in a pack.
UA-cam I did not know I needed to know this, but you make a darn good argument sir
10:10 Also on Hoth it was mentioned that the speeders had problems with the cold. Even when the Rebels by that point spent some time on the planet.
It's mentioned in Legends that a convoy carrying all their equipment to adapt to cold was ambushed by the Empire and destroyed.
has to be said, the change in doctrine to not risk armoured vehicles in urban environments makes sense... why send in a walker for patrol duties when probe droids will do the same job?
A dark joke would be to point out that these days they don't need to send a drone or a droid. They just send a bomb. But your point is correct for situations where armies don't want to do that. That's one reason why CIS is and has always been, by complete accident, the smartest military in Star Wars. It only makes sense that both Star Wars and fans alike would buy into their role as buffoons..
13:44 to 13:57
Top tier Generation Tech.
God bless you, Carl.
That Black Parade reference at the end was gold
3:35 can we just admire that Rex is shooting at an AT-AT walker with pistols
XD why was he even shooting makes him seem extreamly stupid
I would to if I was THE GOAT!
The reason the star fortress thing was so easily destroyed is that unlike in SW, altitude played a significant part in air combat, bombers weren't just heavily armed and armoured they flew higher and faster than most fighters (ideally). If a b17 attacked a German city at low altitude like they did in that SW scene the result would've been pretty similar
The weakness exploited in ESB you could say is hard to exploit. A snow speeder only has one tow cable before it needs to replenish it plus it takes a seriously skilled pilot to consistently wrap around the at-at and hope the tow cable doesn’t just randomly get stuck then you’ll be flying out of control and crash.
Armoring the legs also is alot harder than smth else break one leg and that thing is useless
@@BabyKnxckz While the joints are weak points, the rest of the leg is basically just slabs of battleship grade armor. A typical tank has few inches of armor on the sides, about a foot on the front, and getting hit even if it does not penetrate the other side of the armor can send fragments that kill the crew and damage the internal components. To destroy a mech leg you need to hit one spot with enough firepower to completely remove at least few cubic feet of material, possibly cubic yards for big mech like ATAT.
We can see in ESB that the ATAT foot is thicker than Luke is tall, and a land mine would not do anything just penetrating that unless it still has enough power to annihilate the ankle behind all that armor, or alternatively just remove the foot pad itself. And all that would just stop the mech from moving unless you get lucky and it falls over, which actually isn't so dangerous for a vehicle that has inertial compensators.
@@AnalystPrimeDo you understand how joints work? You know, the moving components? The second that is mildly damaged, the leg is not moving. Once the ATAT is stuck in place it is easily destroyed in multiple ways. Air strike, artillery, flanking, etc.
The design is completely awful. It has a neck weakpoint… why? It is incredibly slow. Armor means nothing when the solution is to invest the same resources in a big enough gun.
@@LiamN4321 "while the joints are weak points" he's just talking about the non joint leg parts, nothing to do with the total viability of the weapon in a near-peer conflict. The whole point of all this is to show its kinda okay against losers who don't have access to cutting edge weapons like the empire does.
@@LiamN4321 You realize there is now a shortage of space wizards who can run across the battlefield dodging fire and jump ten meters to cut that joint with their magic swords? Even in a more realistic universe you aren't going to hit a small fast swinging target with a heavy slow firing cannon without lot of luck, especially as it will be behind all the trees, buildings and whatever other cover there is when battles happen in natural terrain instead of the table they do stop motion animation on.
If you can see the legs you are either on a flat plain where every enemy can also see you or got so close that you are an obvious target, neither of which is a situation where you want to stop to aim for a difficult trick shot. And even if you do hit it, that joint is still armored so to have any chance of doing anything you must use a proper antitank weapon, meaning you should be using it to destroy heavy vehicles instead of wasting time and ammo trying to be fancy.
The joints are certainly a weak spot but in a regular battle enemies will just try to shoot the body because it is easier to hit and will give more immediate results.
I am really liking this series. please break down more Star wars misconceptions. I also liked the pairing with the VS videos.
@ 16:02 that's a much nicer way of saying "bloody minded contrarian".
I think I'll start using that myself!
If i remember correctly, some planets had disruptive effects on repulsor engines and some bases had a repulsorlift jammer making the use of small and medium sized hover craft impossible. And with difficult terrain that hampers wheeled and tracked vehicles, a walker is a good choice
200 First Order Stormtroopers vs 200 Clone Troopers please
Agreed
My money is on the clones. Instead of being enlisted like stormtroopers, the clones are literally bred for battle.
@@jasondismuke4837 the First Order stormtrooper have the same training and better equipment, i think it would be interesting
@Psub950 it would definitely be close. I totally agree that it would definitely be interesting. Specialized troops, or just basic infantry vs infantry?
Why? Why send mere babes into the slaughter of Normandy Beach?
That cybertruck comment was awesome. Love this channel!
Hannibal used elephants to get through mountains for a reason. Beaches, swamps, thick forests, rocky broken terrain, tundra, deep snow, hills and trenches are where large walkers make sense. Anywhere wheels or tracks can't go.
Might also be because he didn't really have an alternative. Wheeled and tracked vehicles didn't exist. It's like saying swords and spears are superior weapons to guns because the Roman legions used them.
Indeed, people really put down Legged locomotion in combat because, "Joints are so vulnerable!" but hard to traverse terrain is hard to traverse for a reason!
You need an adaptable means of locomotion, which is going to complex no matter how you do it.
@@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem Wheels existed in the time of Hannibal!
But Wheels don't like uneven terrain, like what you'd find on a MOUNTAIN, preferring Infrastructure like level roads, or at the very least clear paths.
Tracks don't fair much better and are far more complex.
@@DonaldWWitt Wheels did, but not vehicles, unless you want to count an animal or person pulling a wheeled platform, at which point you're using the elephant or other animal anyway.
@@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem I don't know what to tell you if you think Wagons and carts aren't vehicles...
I totally understand where you're coming from I love this vehicle as I'm making/building my own AT-AT to carry my figures.
The bigger problem is "ground pressure". The mass of the walker would cause it to bog down and trip on anything other than rock or impacted soil.
Physics in stat wars doesn't work the same way as in real life. If it looks cool it is probably possible.
Glad you said it so I don't have to. Maybe AT-ATs use repulsors to keep themselves up. Gen Tech is screwed either way. If repulsors work the way he supposes in water then ground pressure is a thing and his AT-ATs will sink. If it doesn't, then repulsors are a much more powerful asset that would outclass any legs.
@@iivin4233 The problem with repulsors or any sort of force beam support is that the ground still feels the mass of the vehicle. If the beam spreads, then the mass will be more evenly distributed, but the vehicle will be more unstable as the energy dissipates by the square of distance. The other problem is the fact that steering an essentially frictionless vehicle is difficult (see maneuvering a GEV, for example). The best answer to the repulsor-problem, in my opinion, is the "gravity -polarizer" found in Larry Niven's Universe. The device simply reverses the local effect of gravity on the containing object, but it uses huge amounts of energy. In that instance, ground pressure is negated by the operation of the device. However ....
Alan and his awesome content! Love this channel!!!
I'm a Battletech player. So yeah walker vehicles are awesome! Even though battlemechs are mostly two legs, there are some quad designs. But definitely a fan of walkers. 😁
Great episode great points and I love the thumbnail and in universe touchs!
Walker is best walker. ~some Imperial, probably.
I agree on most things, accept that a repulsor with 8 foot of clearance NOT preforming insanely better off-road then a tracked vehicle. Ground clearance alone that is insane. repulsors also work on water.
My thought was repulser lifts require being on the outside of armor making them more vulnerable to even small arms for a mobility kill. The other issue is a repulser is an energy based field and can be detected further away. The Walkers in this way are "stealthier" since when the stop they emit zero energy.
These would be the two reasons the CIS used them when others didn't, they used huge armies so stealth was out, and if one of their 1000 hover tanks got immobilized who cared, it could keep firing from that location.
I subscribed to you because of your detailed explanations of stuff. Please remind people that these vehicles were NOT designed for practicality, they were designed by looks and that is it. No reality in SW, just fantasy, but enough reality to make it almost believable.
You mentioned about 3 minutes in that the Empire wouldn't have to be concerned with land mines because they were the only faction fielding a large conventional army, and that they would be the only faction laying mines. If you look at the history of modern asymmetrical warfare, land mines have been an effectively used by guerilla forces, especially against armor. The use of both professionally manufactured and improvised landmines against armored convoys during the USSR's occupation of Afghanistan in the '80s especially comes to mind. In the Empire's situation it's very reasonable for them to consider weapons like mines to be more of a threat than enemy armor or heavy weapons. It's far more likely that an insurgent cell can hide a pit full of explosives on a road than build and maintain hover-tanks capable of stranding up to a galaxy-spanning space faring civilization.
"They wouldn't need to be worried about landmines, because they are the only conventional land army anyways!"
Holy fu+king shit, lmfao. God, these people are comedy gold. Who's going to tell them, about the last...what, 20 years in the Middle East?
@@papapalps2415 To be fair, he does mention IEDs. That should have been his first clue.
Not the same thing. Small guerilla forces do not have factories producing land mines in quantity. And unlike Earth, with communists supplying armament to the guerilla, in SW they would fix that rapidly by blowing up the guilty planet. 'What does it say on the land mine's tag? Made on Alderaan? Yeah, We'll solve the problem in a minute.'
The kind of terrain that'd arguably be a huge weakness for walkers: soft/hollow ground. Enemy sets a trap over a hollow space beneath the surface of an area, as soon as the walker sets foot over that area, they'll be liable to fall right in and incur severe damage to their limbs.
Seeing you talk about teh manka walker is cool, I noticed the republic walkers had a similer feel to one f the drop ships with teh cargo hold space.
PORTABLE HIGH GROUND!!!!!
A new favorite episode!
as a former maintenance guy, I just don't like all those high maintenance moving parts. tracks and wheels are one thing, legs are a whole other story
AT-TE on top
Some other thought processes that crossed my mind on this that I don't have enough lore to answer: What are the logistics at the Empire's disposal for a far-out rim world like Hoth? Maybe the AT-AT wasn't the perfect fit for the ice world invasion, but it may be all that Vader's fleet had on-hand and they had to "make due" to jump on the opportunity provided by the probe droid's discovery. And, as brought up in this video, they didn't do that bad in the battle for Hoth. Heck, if the driver of the vehicle that got wrapped in tow cables just halted his advance, the thing would never have toppled over. AND the speeders were dropping like flies when they tried to make their passes. Even Luke got shot down shortly after his victory, and he was covered in P.L.O.T. armor.
The ATAT is smartly designed for the Empire. You don’t know what threats you will need to clash with, so you build a vehicle that can be a tank, IFF, artillery, general cargo transport and a mobile observation post.
I feel like the AT-AT should of had some anti-air capabilities. Its certainly big enough to fit an arsenal of homing missiles to take out airborne hostiles. It surprises me that Veers didn't think of that, for he should have at gotten some AT-AAs to accompany Blizzard force to take out those snow speeders.
Great content, per usual. Do you have any content on Kylo’s Command Shuttle? Probably my favorite Star Wars craft.
Who?
10:42 I call bullshit on that 55 kph limit for the AAT, it's clearly faster. That lore needs to get updated.
The 55 kph is probably the combat speed. When the tank is running around for logistics it has to be way faster.
Great use of that My Chemical Romance line 👍
Reminds me of the battle elephants bearing down on Gondor.
My personal take (hot or not?):
Helldivers 2 Factory Strider > AT-AT
Another bonus to the height of the ATAT is that it can more easily engage enemy forces hidden in high rises. During the invasion of Chechnya by the Russian Army in the 90s and 2000s, a large amount of vehicles, especially BMP-2s, were lost because they lacked the elevation angles to engage rebel forces. This directly resulted in the development of the BMP Terminator, with extreme angles of elevation, while being built on the T-72 chassis, providing plenty of armor to engage infantry.
Just so you know, the Sith Empire didn't use the Manka class, they used a long tank with treads simply called the Crawler Tank
good stuff as always bud.
The AT-AT was at such a ridiculous size for its imposing frame. If you can see it coming over the horizon (not unlike how they did on Hoth), you can’t tell me that put the fear of Palpatine in unruly populaces.
The height has a use, it's essentially mobile artillery because it can overlook the whole battlefield
Change your mind about walkers? Fine. Play Total Annihilation!
Oh no, wait, that might backfire...
Channeling Jack O'Neil: both the ISD and the AT-AT are weapons of terror, not weapons of war. Also, the Imperial military is more of a civil guard, not really a fighting force.
Could be worse, they could be a planetary defense force from Warhammer 40k.
The ISD and AT-AT were literally designed to fight the battles of the clone wars and you think they’re only intimidation tools 😂😂 so foolish
walkers and their real life analogs - ROBODOGS - can carry heavier payloads than flying drones, and excel at loitering! Though the narrow terrain niche of being too bad for wheels vs being too bad for all ground vehicles probably requires some really good geology intel
In all the games were you can add them to your army. I found 3 ATAT, 6 ATST, 4 ATAA plus 2 rear units. Keep the apart until they get in range of the base. One will be lost, but that's war. ATAT are good for cover fire, transport, and assault.
That last line, "the savior of the broken the beaten and the damned" gave my tinitus a distinct g-flat tone xD
The parody of the "death of the tank" argument, which has been happening since September of 1916, and recently regained traction (pun very much intended) is appreciated.
Outstanding Video!!! 😎 👍
that NYPD walker picture you showed is, I think, an art project >.>
ATAT's seem more like internal security vehicles like MRAP's than a Bradley
This dude deserves more than 835 thousand subs
Hard for the AT AT to keep going if there’s no maintenance bay in the field or if you experience any minor or major mechanical issues.
AT-ST i get becUse it's a all terrain scout vehicle meant for scouting and can be equipped with heavy weaponry like grenade launchers to function as a assault vehicle. The AT-AT, i always see it as a All terrain Troop trasnport or All terrain Artillery Platform. It's useful for urban combat but when out in the open like Hoth then it's somewhat useless
This reminds me of an RPG campaign I was a part of some years back where a strike team was sent to either sabotage or steal the production plans for a newer, better armed and more stable version of the AT-AT that would have made anyone fielding it all but invulnerable in ground combat. Among other things, it had bubble turrets on the side and the legs were a bit offset, angled outward from the central body making it easier to "squat" instead of "kneel" when disembarking troopers. It also had the AT-AA's Pod on the top and even small repulsors under the belly that could push away mines, small charges, solid rockets, and cutting blades around the knees to prevent the tow cable trick. Even the "neck joint" was up-armored. It was a beast based on the AT-TE, and the MT-AT, with the LAAT bubble turrets and the AT-AA leg shape and A-Pod smashed in. Transport capacity suffered due to the increased armor and armament, but this was a front line heavy assault version rather than the standard "bring our troops and speeders to the front" version. Properly designed and utilized, it would be a beast, but much like the vaunted TIE Defender, it was VERY expensive so your random imperial governor would wince at those per unit costs when he could just build some cheaper units and siphon the rest off to his personal pleasure palace...
TL:DR: Good video, makes many points also encountered by my gaming group long long ago.
13:50 gee thanks for that mental image…..I really needed to imagine a Star Wars tank acting like my mum’s dog.
i would really want to drive one if it ever exists..it's one of the coolest and iconic transport in sci-fi.
obviously they're cool, but ridiculous, if you want the "high ground" that's what close air support is for and considering that repulser lifts can't be that bad considering the vehicles are ALWAYS hovering which would be the equivalent to always having you car idle when not in use
also you would have to consider the cost of transporting a large and heavy vehicle
Good to see you moving on from acolyte.
Nice MCR reference.
Good Video !!!
Would love a video talking about the best vehicles in the empire vs the best in the republic
Can you do a video on the AT-DP and their role with patrolling cities / urban environments and small towns and what not? I think it's really underrated and hopefully we see it in live action. I know it has flaws, but that's exactly what I want you to point out.
5:33 "help" lol
there just isn't gonna be a crowd left after these things go "pew pew"
one potential advantage of a walking vehicle is using the legs to oscillate the hull for improved gun depression much like the swedish stridsvagn
Forgot the most important part of the ATAT. The fact that it's the most overpowered unit in Empire at War
I love me some Legged Mechs Allen, but the AT-AT was designed for looks both in and out of universe.
Even Kenner made a prototype AT-AT that replaced the transport space with a big gun.
I like how the spacefaring history of the Star Wars universe is so long that they have to design ships/walkers/etc. that are still way more advanced than anything we could come up with but still have to look outdated in terms of late BBY/early ABY period tech
Toyoda providing weapons platforms and transport since the 80's.
When I was a young Jedi, my master took me into the city
The walker is such an impractical terror tool lol.
One of the things nobody really remembers about supereffective weapons like the explosively formed penetrator IED Is they actually have an Effective range of 100 m from the cannister source... If they are aimed properly they do not have to be in contact with or even next to their targets to slice right through them.
Properly concealed and positioned they can represent a 360° threat to any armored target on every axis. You can't max armor everything: front, back, sides, above, and below.
Not so. You’d need a very big EFP to penetrate a car at 100m. To the scale that it would be immobile and inefficient against armored targets.
And the most important thing that this video doesn’t mention is it looks awesome
On classic star wars battlefront 2 on Kashik i believe the hover separatist tank actually hovers over the shallow water on the beach it might not work on deeper water though its not deeper than its body anyway but it is above the water definitely from my memory
Something notable is that because of the extreme height, it's side armour is all sloped armour, functionally thicker than if it were closer to the ground.
8:09 rubble has explosives in it? You can’t convince me that a charge able to take out a tank can’t take out this things leg. It has to step over. The ap-mine argument is also not to good, mines will destroy those feet.
13:40 wtf did you just do to my eyes?
Honestly the AT TE with a 2 meter lower leg extension would shove like...
80 percent of the AT AT issues
I loved those fast one manned walkers from clone wars
AT-ATs should be used in *conjunction* with smaller walkers (STs, RTs) and infantry, not alone. They're your Ultralisks -- meant to draw attention and fire, while your Zerglings tear the enemy bunkers apart. If they happen to hit something themselves, it a bonus. Looks like Veers should have played some more Starcraft.
If you want to perfect the AT, I say give it back a tail turret like an AT-TE, always have STs/RTs watching its flanks, and shove a big ol' shield generator on its back, like what the big lizard things had in the Gungan army. I have the Empire of the Hand do just that with their AT-ATs in my fics, and it makes them a much better platform.
Yep, a combined arms approach is what makes tanks especially effective in modern militaries. They should also have AT-AAs. That way those pesky rebel snowspeeders wouldn't have stood a chance.