I think it's also important to note that, at times, you see the X-Wings hitting the AT-ACTs in vulnerable spots (The first one is nailed with a surprise strike to the neck) or hitting them with Proton Torpedoes, designed specifically for those kinds of airstrikes. Another thing is that the one point where we see a mounted repeater take one down is by focusing sustained fire on a weak point. Something we didn't see on Hoth, nor really something the T-47 Airspeeders are really capable of.
Again Westend games really thought the term T-47 was for the snowspeeders when it's actually medical supplies especially when Luke refers to T-47s as larger modules, why would the snowspeeders be called modules why doesn't he just say snowspeeders if that was actually what he was talking about instead of medical supplies in big containers and also there's the part where they wouldn't put the snowspeeders on the transports at all when they are being used for ground support
iirc the repeater they use is an ion-repeater, and itactually causes the repulsor-support system in the knee to fail, whereupon it buckles under the weight of the vehicle, also @Cloningmaster55 Luke was referring to the airspeeders, as they are the T-47s, the term snowspeeder was a coloqual one for any airspeeder adapted to cold weather conditions.
@Huter2142 Again Westend games assumed T-47s were the Snowspeeders Luke wasn't talking about the Snowspeeders because them even being considered for being loaded on the transports makes no sense at all what would they use for ground support and actually having a chance at taking down the attacking walkers and any other fighter craft are being utilized else where for escorts for the transports among other things, Westend games have made all kinds of decisions that really shouldn't have stuck and been approved by Lucasfilm as canon info which has still stuck even after Disney
@@Cloningmaster55 The first Westend Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game was released in (1987) there are books older than that calling the T-47 a snow speeder, like the Guide To The Star Wars Universe (1984). It is page 174 on the Internet archive if you want to see it.
@@Cloningmaster55 You're technically right. But I like to imagine Luke was talking about parts they were not using on the T-47s. Since they had them kitted out for snow duty with tow cables, their warm weather gear and other "modules", were being loaded into the transports. So it can be both.
Eck, I would just like to say, I’ve been following your channel and your coverage of Star Wars since your episodes speculating on The Last Jedi, and I must say, it has been quite the journey witnessing you growing from some guy recording Star Wars theories on his phone in his car, to being one of the largest voices not just on this wonderful franchise, but also on UA-cam as a whole, Thank you for all the memories you have given us Eck, and I can say confidently we’re not going anywhere.
@@EckhartsLadder Please do an expose on these copywrite strikers. Other similar companies have taken down a number of other popular channels in the past or caused real issues. They basically try to hold channels hostage for payouts and need to be made public for shaming.
@@sirbachelorboredmen1314 Really, i thought it lacked, or perhaps the original sciprt/engineers we're limited in the 80's Needs lateral lasers and the ability to decouple from legs to return to orbit in an emergency.
Imperial engineering is clearly modeled after NAZee engineering... 75% "what the eff were you thinking" 20% "oh wow, that's perfect" and 5% "holy shite".
What if instead of AT-ATs, the Empire built a Death Star and blew up Alderaan just to punish Princess Leia Organa for being a member of the Rebel Alliance however at Yavin 4 a farmer boy from Tatooine blows up the Death Star by exploiting a vent which led directly to the core.
Even when you think about Ep. 5 itself. The snowspeeders tried firering at the At-Ats at first. Then they where suprised, that they where to heavily armored. So this heavy armor seems to be a relativly new thing for the rebels.
From Chapter 14 of X-Wing: Isard’s Revenge: “Out of the hangars trotted a quartet of AT-ATs, the Imperial walker units that had wrought so much havoc at Hoth. They moved quickly, not looking as cumbersome and slow in the light snow as they had on Hoth’s icefields. Back then we were in airspeeders-undergunned and overmatched. A smile slowly twisted his lips. Not the case this time.” Following this quote, the Rogues proceed to make quick work of the AT-ATs using their X-Wings. It’s easy to think that a blaster is a blaster is a blaster, but the power difference between the snowspeeders on Hoth and the X-Wings flown by Rogue Squadron in this novel-or the U-Wings used by the Rebels at the Battle of Scarif-really are an order of magnitude more powerful. So yup, that is why the AT-ACTs crumbled under fire from starfighters whereas the AT-ATs seemed nigh invincible during the Battle of Hoth.
At Hoth, the Rebels used Anti-Vehicle cannons on the AT-ATs to no effect. Then again, they were hitting the heavily armoured legs and "heads". I recall in one novel, the X-Wings used proton torpedoes to take out the AT-AT's. A single proton torpedo was enough to eviscerate an AT-AT. This makes one wonder how powerful Star Wars weapons really are... Blasters < Blaster Cannons < Lasers < Laser Canons < Turbo Lasers < Super Turbo Lasers From what I've seen and based on weapons fighters have, I have reasoned a single proton torpedoes has the same damage potential of a single shot from a turbo laser. X-Wings use blaster cannons to laser cannons, depending on source. The Radar-Dish Anti-Vehicle (Atgar 1.4 FD P-Tower) cannons are just lasers with a low rate of fire. Hence their ineffectiveness.
They literally have X-wings at Hoth and choose to use the snowspeeders instead. Why would they do this if they were "undergunned and underpowered"? Are the Rebels just stupid?
@kapitankapital6580 they wanted to save the X-Wings for escorting the transports past Destroyers, maybe? On one hand makes sense, don't risk losing X-Wings to AT-,AT guns, on the other... 2 per snow speeders, that's a potential big risk of losing available pilots for the X-wings...
@@stevenblankenheim4016 that was my first thought as well but then we see there are clearly X-wings left over including the one Luke uses to escape in. In fact we see at least four if not five X-wings in that final scene. It is very much a deliberate choice by the Rebels to use snowspeeders instead of x-wings
@@stevenblankenheim4016, If I was organizing the withdrawal... I wouldn't want the snowspeeders due to their limitations (purely atmospheric "fighters"). However, if I do have them, I'll try to make the best use of them and reserve the spacefighters for... well.. space. The pilots are going to be assigned to either ground defence (snowspeeders) or escort (X-Wings). The spacefighters of the pilots assigned to ground defence will be loaded onto the first couple of transports, for future use. Of course, this isn't all that is required. There is the final moment of the withdrawal when the shield generator is destroyed and the airspace (not just the space-space) is going to be covered in fighters to prevent the transports from leaving the system (preferably prevented from leaving the planet's atmosphere). Worse, the Ion Cannon would no longer operational so the transports need to worry about starships in their path too, not just fighters. It's at this moment that is the most dangerous part. It makes sense to reserve some X-Wings for the pilots of the Snowspeeders so they can clear air of enemy fighters, while the pilots assigned to escort the transports prepare to defend the transports in space as they make their escape run. If there are too many spare X-Wings, just have people on standby who know how to use their controls, to pilot them out of the system. If they die on the way out, that sacrifice means the imperials who killed them have less time to disable the transports. If there are too few, then the spare pilots board the transports. All of this makes it convenient for Luke to have R2 waiting for him... so he can go AWOL to Dagobah for several months.
I just assumed that, as "modern" Star Wars was showing more in its films since TFA, it just boiled down to the sheer power difference between the various types of lasers, blasters, etc. being used as opposed to differences in the armor of the AT-AT style walkers. (Like how they emphasized how much stronger and more accurate Chewie's Bowcaster was, as essentially a sniper weapon, compared to Han's blaster pistol.) The Snowspeeder was armed with what would amount to "small arms" blaster fire made for hitting much softer targets (like Wampas, Probe Droids, smaller walkers like the AT-ST, AT-PT, etc.), so it would be like trying to use a couple vehicle mounted 5.56 or 7.62 mm machine guns against a tank - it just wouldn't be very effective unless the tank is already heavily damaged (like the AT-AT that was brought down by the tow cable in ESB) - but the laser cannons used on a starfighter like the X-Wing would be *much* stronger than a speeder's blasters, amounting to something like the 30 mm GAU-8 Avenger cannon on the A-10 Thunderbolt II / Warthog or the 20 mm cannons on jet fighters which can shred tanks.
Those guns can't shred a modern main battle tank. The original A-10 pilot coloring book (you read that right) points out that modern MBT's in the 80s were invulnerable from the front, and were only good targets from the top, sides, and rear. In Operation Desert Storm in 1991, they were using primarily anti-tank guided missiles to destroy tanks, and the Avenger cannon to destroy soft and lightly armored targets.
@@drrocketman7794 except you can find plenty of tanks in Iraq that were shredded by the A-10 cannon. In fact the Air Force did tests and found the cannon with its DU ammo will take out modern tanks.
Agreed. I will say, I don't think the sling-mounted ion canons on the U-wing should have worked though. That's certainly less powerful than the main laser canons on a snow speeder. The main starfighter weapon though on the U-wing probably would be.
@@danielbroome5690 Thing is, taking out vehicles is the main purpose of ion cannons because they disrupt electrical systems and can completely disable a vehicle with sustained fire. That's why they work even though the snowspeeder's lasers didn't.
AT-ACT makes a ton of sense as a combat transport as well. Its armored against attack, and has the same mobility capabilities of the heavier walkers it would follow. Just some head cannon tho, but it fits.
The AT-ACT is literally a war machine repurposed for construction work, all they need to do put a mag crane its back and its perfect. Also the base AT-AT is a combat transport just a very ill suited one because of its height.
One of the things most ignore in these “Why don’t they use…?” discussions is the logistics of manufacturing, maintenance, and transportation. So, yeah, standardizing factories and parts is a great advantage in mass warfare in a large theatre. The logistics of an industrialized war machine are more important than specialization (ya, I know, I know the Empire does that too) and ideal deployments. It helped win WWII, which was a main inspiration of Star Wars. On the flipside, smaller adversaries have to cobble together what they can get, use effective tactics, and end up with highly-specialized apparatus out of necessity while their opponent throws hordes of standardized equipment in an effort to leverage their superior numbers via mass production.
Funnily, the AT-ACP IS the heavier walker, its about 1/4th as large again compared to a standard AT-AT if memory serves, to the point in needed repulsor support systems in the knees or it buckles under its own weight, doubly when fully laden
The AT-ACT actually does make sense. They can wade through fairly deep water and go places repulsorlift vehicles. If you're on a backwater planet, there may not be roads or conditions suitable for repulsorlift transports (dense swamps, etc.). Having a walker that can simply force its way through and is tall enough to keep the cargo dry makes a lot of sense. An AT-ACT makes its _own_ roads.
AT-ACT was also made bigger than the AT-AT because someone, I believe the director, wanted it to look even more intimidating Also according to I think the visual guide, the gunners on the U-Wings were using ion rounds that distrusted the magnetic fields or some shit on the legs causing them to buckle easier. The X-Wings in the movie also if you look closely attack structurally weak points like the neck.
Y'know, with their weakness to fighters, or even the smaller snowspeeders for that matter, it annoys me that the First Order didn't bother adding some AA support to protect their walkers. Add some side guns like the old WW2 bombers had, or maybe a flak-walker that walks alongside them.
Honestly, it's kinda weird that we don't really see a air support accompanying walker actions more often, A. because the most famous time AT-ATs were taken down, it was aircraft that did it, so an escort that can drive off enemy fighters just makes sense, B. because a combined air-and-armor offensive would further drive home the comparison to one of the Empire's major real world influences, and C. because TIE Strikers are really cool, underutilized ships.
@tonysladky8925 well how many battles featuring walkers do we actually see? There's Hoth, where arguably they can't use them because of the shield, there's Endor where they can't use them because of the trees, and there's Crait where they do use air cover.
@@tonysladky8925 you forgot that Scarif was a heavily guarded "military-industrial complex, becoming a center for top-secret research" with orbital shield. None of the Empirials were expecting direct attacks on the complex.
My questions about the AT-AT are why ONLY FOUR cannons ON THE HEAD? There's a ton of other places you could mount cannons to have better defensive and offensive capabilities. it has HUGE blind spots and VERY limited firing angles. It's big, which can totally be intimidating, but it's not really dangerous. The other question. Both sides have energy shield capabilities, albeit used sparingly, why not but shield generators on it? If only on the legs? If I was in charge of either side, I'd lean HEAVILY into putting energy shields in EVERYTHING possible, not just on buildings and the odd droid here and there. It would give my side a HUGE advantage! And both sides, especially the Empire, have shown they actually DON'T have a shortage of resources, tech, or arms to do so. The empire has more, sure.
because it was a truck, not a tank. it moved personnel and cargo from place to place. the weapons were light because it wasn't supposed to be it's primary mission.
energy shielding i believe in cannon is actually fairly expensive, whereas armor is cheaper. that's why the X-wings have shields and the TIE fighters don't: the rebellion had fewer pilots so went with quality, but the Empire had a truly mind-blowing manpower pool and therefore needed to save money on the fighter craft they employed, and their tactics reflect that. The Rebellion specialized in Hit and Run attacks (like we see in Rouge One in the bombing run after Jyn Erso's father was killed) and they needed a fighter that could tank a few hits and run away, but the Empire, having so many pilots, could afford higher losses and thus employed more swarm tactics with the TIEs. There ARE variants of the TIE that have shields (Darth Vader's TIE fighter being the most prominent) but they are specifically noted as being more expensive.
Well, the Empire are basically space nazis, and even the original nazis made some really dumb decisions with their war machines. Lots of tanks with a single forward firing MG in a ball mount on the front hull, often fired by the driver, so they had no anti-infantry protection from most sides. Usually not even a co-axial MG on the main turret either. Meanwhile the US tanks were covered in machine guns, all the machine guns. Should there be more guns on the AT-AT to cover blind spots? Absolutely yes. Does it match actual real world fascist war machines? Also yes.
You could say this about real world tanks. Why dont they have machine guns etc. pointing at all directions? Well cost is one thing and then you have the fact that mounting more weapons would also cause more weak points to the armor. The point is that these are supposed to be heavily armored transports and long range "artillery" and not really direct combat vehicles.
I don't care how "silly" they are, I love AT-ATs. Have a little parade of diecast ones marching across my desk. I do think the Empire should have kept the tail gun that some of the earlier models had though. In my fics, the Empire of the Hand adds the tail gun back on, and also takes a page from the Gungan Grand Army (seriously!) and sticks shield generators on top of its AT-ATs, so that it can protect smaller walkers, other vehicles like Juggernauts (canonically used by the Hand in the short story in "Crisis of Faith" by Timothy Zahn) and infantry in its battlegroup, as well as extra protection against those pesky starfighters. I work in law myself, and I'm in southern Ontario too. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm a legal assistant, and believe me, that's enough work! I don't blame you one bit for leaving -- my bosses are constantly stressed out, even though I do my best to help them. I'm positive UA-cam is more enjoyable, and I wish you well!
I assume that there probably was a variant or two in between the GCW AT-AT and the FO AT-AT. The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer kinda puts a hole in that but I think there’s a chance it happened
Eck’s channel used to kind of be more focused space battles, starships, vs battles, that kind of thing. I think the content has just gotten a bit low effort.
@@BalthasarGelt-x2dI agree, it seems like a rapid commentary channel rather than a lore one. However, in his defense, he has days worth of Star Wars lore of canon and non canon vehicles. To say it bluntly, there are no new encyclopedias or guidebooks coming out and Disney’s rate of making new interesting lore material is lower. Additionally, he likely posts these videos to supplement his longer ones and is likely not earning much from them. So it’s probably not out of greed
@@BalthasarGelt-x2d well lets face it. The writers at lucasfilm are mostly all woman. And women dont write stories about war. Considering its called STAR WARS. Its struggling because modern star wars is just space drama, focusing heavily on peoples feelings an girl bosses. These are the same stupid writers that didn't know basic science, like fire in space doe's not work. But there it is in the Acolyte. Its written by people that don't have a life because they live online.
LucasFilm Exec: We've got this new AT-AT variant for "Rogue One" that's even bigger than the ones from Hoth. It'll make a great toy. Hasbro Exec: That'll be awesome! I can get my team on that as soon as you can send us the schematics! It'll make our Super-Deluxe AT-AT toy from 2010 look wimpy by comparison! Disney Exec: Make it barely bigger than the 1980s one and charge three times the price of the 2010 one!
congrats on a mill subs man i love your videos so if you have to go another way with your videos ill still be here for the content you have a good way of presenting info
It was self-explanatory when I saw Rogue One. I knew that the walkers on Scariff were an earlier model and the Empire must have realized after that defeat that they needed to design walkers that were less destructible. They had achieved this by the time of the battle of Hoth.
they were always said to be cargo transports. the at-ct at-at at-st crews can be trained to operate all three vehicles. plus parts etc would to a degree be interchangeable.
I gotta say, I'm very glad you're doing another analysis, and not just complaining about the most recent episode of something. I've been a big fan for years, and I'm glad you're doing some more speculative and creative stuff rather than turning up your nose at the Disney shows episode after episode. Thanks, hope you do more of this again.
The All Terrain Armored Cargo Transport (AT-ACT) was a larger version of the standard All Terrain Armored Transport combat walker that featured a dedicated cargo bed for the transportation of heavy building materials or combat munitions.
Great review! Also worth noting: Commercial uses for this design. We see modifications of walker designs for cargo lifting on and in many ports and scrapyards, e.g. in The Mandolorian.
And pretty much anything happened in R1, destroying canon (Galen didn't "put a weakness in", the superstructure was finished in RoTs), old ships retired a thousand years ago are now magically in service - anything's possible with bad writing.
@@nerdock4747 Completely and utter false it doesn’t break canon at all. In ROTS only the frame was complete and construction projects can go in reverse if something goes wrong, hence why the dish is partially complete in ROTS but is not there at all in Andor or Rogue One before they place it in. All the wiring, piping, generators, weapons and everything else that needed to be added to the death star was done in the 19 years leading up to Rogue One, it is after the work on the station “stalled” that they bring Galen back to help finish it around about 13BBY, he then proceeds to put multiple little flaws into it so that construction is considerably longer, giving the rebellion time to grow and become organised before they are capable enough to take on the empire. He then proceeded to put a thermal exhaust port into the station which honestly wouldn’t be a problem if nobody knew, so he leaks the info on a holo recording, gives it to a defecting pilot and tells him to take it to the one rebel he trusts, Saw Gerrera. Also, what ships were in Rogue One that were “retired thousands of years ago” ?
Rise of Skywalker should have used the AT-M6. They was a one off in TLJ. You could actually destroy the AT-AT with the Snow Speeder in Shadows of The Empire with its laser cannons.
It's weird. ALL sequel movies have their own variations of Walkers. The Force Awakens AT-MA AT-PD The Last Jedi AT-M6 AT-AT AT-ST AT-HH The Rise of Skywalker UA-TT
@@phillyskyguy9535they even get blown up by Luke’s deflective force power lightsaber skills by their own blaster bolts in the alternative version of The Last Jedi and Lego Star Wars the Skywalker Saga.
I think the AT-ACT works well on Scarif because it’s long legs would allow it to easily move through the shallow waters around the citadel and landing pads.
I would love a variant of an AT-AT that sacrifices forward firepower and troop carrying capability for some formation escort ability by have a fast tracking aa laser cannon turret on the top of the back, plus 2 medium anti-vehicle cannons on the sides one each to protect against flanking vehicles and several repeating blasters mounted in blisters that can fire downwards to defend against enemy infantry that try to aim for the neck gap or use the grapple hook and detonation pack like Luke did in empire strikes back. Probably not the most practical or efficient but it seems why such a variant has never been tried considering the Empire would make a cargo transport variant of the AT-AT
A much younger me actually really liked the AT-AT, when I first saw it, back in the late 80s, and fortunately, that me wasn't even distracted by any design shortcomings, or impracticalities, it might've had; it was just cool, and imposing. I do wish that it seemed slightly better with step/gait clearance, since it would seem to have been an advantage, having such long legs, if it could have stepped over more obstacles, but it does make me wonder how they loaded freight into the AT-ACT? I'm not familiar with those walkers being able to lower down, onto their bellies, and then get back up, to a standing position, so you'd need to lift whatever you were loading rather high, just to get it stowed, and while I'd almost never use a word like "practical" to describe anything that the Empire did, this just seems even more silly here. 😊
I like the empire at war awakening the rebelion take, 2 diffrent models, an early one deaigned more for anti personal peace keeping oporations and a more heavaly armored combat oriented version that trades the laser cannon turret on the back in exchange for better armor and a heavier, ant vehical armment and better protection edit 4:25 i absolutely love that version, artillary/anti orbital AT-AT technical
We currently have armored tractors used by SeaBees and engineers. They were basic tractors with armored glass and armor plate around it. They're meant to be used in areas that might be under fire and combat conditions. Makes sense to have an armor transport like the AT-ACT. It could act as both a transport but also a crane other other industrial units in a combat zone for setting up firebases and FOBs.
in the book during preparation for battle, during the Battle of Hoth, it does mention that the snow speeders were supposed to be standard ice scout vehicles, that the alliance had jerry rigged weaponry onto. also in the movies they did try to shoot the AT-AT's to no avail, in the same spots that the people dur9ing rogue one tried, so it may be that the armor was newer to that time or a prototype that was in the middle of testing
I think someone even says that they need to draw the fire during the battle of Hoth, It also sounded like from the beginning that they were heavily modifying the ships to be able to operate in the cold. So it made some sense to me that the ships had some of their fighting equipment removed and replaced, for instance by the grappling hooks for the construction of the Hoth base. To be fair I also assumed that the snowspeeders were also not actualy capable of getting into space and like the land speeders where just using suborbital drives or something.
Hi Eck, I've been watching you since you've had less than 1,000 subs, and I'm very proud to see what you've achieved! I still remember the time where your intros would be a full minute long haha! I do low-key miss that from time to time. I wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2025! Let this be a year full of good star wars content and another year I'm subscribed to you! (Now that I write that, is there a way to check how long you've been subscribed to someone?)
I feel like the AT-AT has too many variations that aren't distinct enough, it's like the ISD I and II. Yeah it's technically different, but visually it's whatever
Honestly, this is a problem with a lot of Star Wars ships, especially with the art direction of the sequels. I'm sure to the very small subset of nerds who pore over the technical stats of fictional machines presented in supplements like Incredible Cross Sections or the rules for various tabletop or video games, this is heresy, but to most people, the T-70 X-wing, the TIE/fo TIE Fighter, and the Xyston Class Star Destroyer are just a new coat of paint on ships we've been seeing since the 1970s. Maybe I'm biased because it's my favorite Legends content, but the Incom X-83 Twintail and CF9 Crossfire, the Sienar Predator, and the Pelllaeon-class Star Desyroyers from Star Wars: Legacy are vastly superior ships because, while clearly inspired by X-wings, TIE Fighters, and Imperial-class Star Desyroyers, they're visually distinct from the OG Star Wars ships.
I think that's partly why the Venator and AT-TE are so refreshing and so well received. Not only are they outrageously classy designs, but they're familiar and different enough without being ripoffs.
4:10 Snowspeeders were not intended as Frontline combat vehicles. They were intended as Scouts and pickets, lightly armed and armoured. They were intended to gather information and send it back. They were intended to be nimble, agile and either push forward along the line of advanced seeking contact or patrolling a area and screaming loudly when the enemy found them. Basically, Scouts and pickets are just very noisy trip wires! They're given light weapons so they can Force the bad guy to keep their heads down and take cover while the Scout / picket breaks contact, but the armor is kept light to keep them mobile. It's like sending a m113 or a loach against an advancing main battle tank force! A futile gesture and forlorn hope that some unlikely Stroke of Luck will delay the enemy briefly as they pause to turn you into a spectacular Fireball and wreckage pattern.
When you are stupid enough NOT to have a top mounted turret, it helps a lot when your enemy is stupid enough to attack from the front in order to get shot at in order to be downed in order to be in jeopardy.
It isn’t shown in Rogue One either, but Scariff has some ridiculously dangerous wildlife too, so having the protected and armed AT-ACT would be a lot more preferential for transport, compared to a light repulsorlift.
#AskEck Why do you think the pirates kept grogu, there was quite obviously a bounty on him considering all the hunters with tracking fobes and I doubt they wouldn't have known about it, so we're actually protecting him. My theory is that after he was saved after the purge, so senator or rebel group hired these pirates to protect him, but was eventually captured by the empire or forgot about grogu, (why he was never given to the new republic after the war), and the pirates not knowing he was a jedi just kept and raised him till mando showed up, killed them and stole their kid.
My head cannon since I started seeing those different varieties farther in the past was that the Hoth walkers were an up armored direct assault model that was more resistant to blaster fire. So there are different versions for different situations, just like real military varieties of tanks.
The at-act was a cargo walker, also the "prototype" at-at was actually called the at-at2 because it was made after the at-at and was made for battle and transport, the at-at used at hoth was used as an intimidation tactic, and to carry large numbers of troopers, filled with around 40 troopers each, they werent good at defending some attacks, stronger starfighters like x wings. The empire knew the rebels wluldnt use x wings and were mostly only ising troops, so they used the at-at
Also in a star wars comic during the clone wars the Early AT-AT made an appearance. The design was built and made in the clone wars. The Empire just MODERNIZED it.
If I was in charge of the walker redesign, I'd include serrated sickle bar style blades to the front of the legs to prevent cable entanglement or trip wires.
I mean scariff is small islands and shallow water the whole way around it with the islands often being covered in trees. Honestly the ATCT makes sense when you want to move materials around an environment like that because it can cross the islands and the water with ease and easily navigate its way through any ground foliage.
“Obviously we can’t just put these mass materials into like, juggernauts, or even simple ICT’s. Nah, let’s put it in the MASSIVE WALKER!!! BWAHAHAH-“ - the imperial officer behind the creation of the AT-ACT
I'd also imagine the AT-ACT is more efficient than a freighter or repulsor because all it needs is energy to run compared to fuel that a ship needs, and doesnt rely on an external energy net like a train does. The AT-ACT would also be significantly less detectable, which would make it viable for long range transport between secretive sites on planets not QUITE under enough scope for them to be detected.
I firmly believe the hoth battle was destined to have the AT-ATs galloping towards the rebel lines, literal armored cavalry charging with earth shaking hoofbeats. somewhere along the way the timeline was broken forever and we were robbed of that magnificent and terrifying sight
I mean assuming there is some kind of crane system inside, having a tall, walking cargo carrier could honestly really come in handy in a lot of situations. Especially if it's capable of providing on-site power for any engineering or building needs. It wouldn't be the fastest means of transporting cargo, but I could see a huge number of benefits to having them, especially if they could doublecas a troop transport with just a few adjustments.
Seeing the first order walkers just screams when your playing with a little kid and all they do is say their toy is bigger and better and beats your toy
The snow speeders at Hoth were retrofitted with Y-Wing parts, because they wanted the extra fire power. At Scarif, I would’ve thought that the AT-Series were less massive because of the lower compressive force that the terrain could handle.
At Hoth they specifically said that the AT-At's armor was "too strong for Blasters". The T-47s had blasters. Blasters are anti-infantry weapons. Fighter-scale laser cannons are much more powerful. The term "blaster" gets thrown around a lot but it generally goes Blaster-->Laser-->Turbolaser on the weapons scale.
The problem with huge walkers is that theyre too stupid to make believable as a prolific vehicle. They dont make sense as a transport, they dont make sense as an elevated weapons platform, and they are apparently easily destructable. You just have to accept its for the "cool".
Yeah I always figured the snowspeeders just didn't have the raw firepower to break the shields, or puncture the thick armor of the AT-AT unless a weak spot was exposed (like when it was tripped, which probably popped its shield bubble and compromised its armor plating). That, and by then the Rebellion was using refurbished, older, weaker tech due to scarcity of materials. The ones on Scarif, even if they were cargo haulers... they weren't very lucky. There's that one shot in this vid where a rocket or a shot goes right into the open cargo bay and snaps the walker's spine because that would be one of its weakest points, given it's side armor was entirely missing.
Being a "GALACTIC" empire doesn't really make sense, however, if it is a Galactic empire, then you would expect even more variants than are shown. You'd probably have countless variants of walkers, each for different purposes. When you want to travel unknown terrain, then a tall vehicle could make sense. Aside from mountains, it could step over obstacles that would stop speeders and tracked/wheeled vehicles. In addition, they are a larger than a football field. They can carry a lot of stuff and equipment. Extreme height gives a good perspective of the terrain below, and also keeps important stuff out of range of lesser vehicles. For instance, if you were in charge of an Abrams Main Battle tank, how would YOU deal with an AT-AT? Walkers don't necessarily have to be slow, either. If there's enough power to move the legs far enough & fast enough, a walker could outpace a smaller vehicle with one step. There's still a process in catching the other legs up, though. A moving fortress can be a pretty intimidating machine, but raising it above ground level also makes if difficult to counter from the ground level. If you have the resources to make such a contraption, and the energy to power it, it's not such a crazy idea. You could probably carry enough stuff in one of those to either raise a city or raze a city, in a very short time. You could certainly capture or build a fortress pretty quickly.
The cargo version of the AT-AT being more armoured does kinda make sense. Maybe ridiculous, but you are sure your cargo is safe ish from attacks. Like pirates and such
I like to think some of the whacky and seemingly redundant variants of Imperial vehicles, weapons, troopers, etc in Legends came down to the officials in charge of an area wanting their own cool stuff because they had excess budget, or didn't want to adopt a rival officials project and look as if they were below them. So that's how you get the hot climate survival backpack stormtroopers you see on Tatooine, but also the EVO troopers from The Force Unleashed which can withstand many varying harsh climates rather than just desert heat. The Imperial Navy seems to have been more cooperative with each other. They all liked using the same starships for the most part. There were a few variants here and there like the Tector Star Destroyer, and smaller ships like the Gladiator Star Destroyer which were actually more of a pickett ship, thus under moff jurisdiction most of the time, but not many redundant variants. This kind of mirrors the military departmental rivalry in authoritarian regimes. Their cultures can be vastly different and they tend to not like each other. It seems the Emperor had his own preferences, because when he returned to attempt to take over the galaxy in Dark Empire, he had new variants of almost everything. Including bigger, darker shaded, AT-ATs with turbolasers on their backs. He had that giant Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaught. Everything was bigger, meaner, and built for terror. He wasn't holding back this time. There were no illusions as to what his goals were. Everyone would obey or be destroyed. Absolute madman. Better than Rise of Skywalker.
It seems like since walkers are tall and unwieldy they would have maybe two turrets on top to counter star fighters, 1-2 turrets on each side to cover the flank, and a rear and belly turret. I know they’re typically meant to be supported by infantry, tanks, and maybe a star fighter compliment, but it seems that extra firepower would allow them to act as that main pushing force in an assault as well as something they can better act alone and now worry about the guerrilla tactics exploiting its weaknesses. Maybe it’s this way cause they’re more ment to be intimidating and the empire expect most fights to be won with their numbers and space superiority. Just a thought.
I'm a little biased because my favorite vehicle growing up was always the AT-AT. I would rewind and watch the battle of Hoth over and over because I liked them so much. It's sad that they get clowned on often but they kind of fit the policy of the Empire so well that makes up for all of their "cons". A heavily armored modular hull that could be fitted to carry troops or equipment and cargo. Has a 50 ft overwatch advantage to give supreme advantage to it's dual heavy laser cannons and dual independent dish laser cannons. It's relative ease to traverse swamps, mountains (not cliffs, but steep hills), rivers, lakes, plains, etc... and do so at a deceptively fast speed (35 mph). And while it does only have weapon systems in the front (besides being an early 'fantastical' vehicle compared to the more realistic tank style of the AT-TE), it kind of fits with the intimidating nature of the Empire. These giant machines were designed almost specifically to not only be functional but be as intimidating as possible to fit with the Tarkin Doctrine. And also, while it's not in the name I would also class it as an "Assault" vehicle which would make it's forward facing turrets make more sense considering it's designed to break through defenses and begin disembarking troops. Unfortunate that it's greatest weakness was getting tied up legs, but besides the fact that it was acknowledged as a weakness and covered up by bureaucracy. I feel like it's pretty rare for that Tactic to come into play if at all and also the counter to it would be either support troops or honestly... for the drivers to stop moving. It's like saying a Sherman tank is weak to having all of it's periscopes spray painted black and the top hatch held down so the tank can't see where it's going then it drives into a ditch and stops moving so we can go up and plant sticky bombs on it. Like you wouldn't stop making AT-AT's, you'd just put out a policy to not move then have your AT-ST's and supporting infantry put in a little work to keep them off of you.
I also look at the variances between Imperial equipment like international production differences on Earth. Like VW Beetle made in Germany vs one made in Mexico. Same design but different logistics and fabrication can mean different results.
The airspeeders not being effective against the ATAT armor is even kinda addressed in the movie. Luke says "that armor is too strong for blasters." The word blaster is usually referring to handheld weaponry while lasers refer to more powerful shipboard weapons, or larger ground based emplacements. The airspeeders are equipped with Blaster Cannons. Like Eck said, they are under powered, so have less powerful weapons that are basically high powered small arms fire like an E-Web. Fine against lightly armored vehicles and infantry, but useless against heavily armored targets. Fighters like X-wings or TIEs on the other hand are equipped with Laser canons, which like Eck said are effective against even capitol starships, so would be effective against AT-AT plating. Why they didn't try to use the wings can be chopped up to them being needed for the evacuation escort, or were being fully fueled and stocked for the same evacuation and the airspeeders were only buying time because they were ready to go. Tho I will point out it did always vex me that after being tripped up and collapsing suddenly the armor fails and the thing is blown up with a couple blaster cannon shots from an airspeeder 🤔😁
Blizzard Squadron on Hoth was meant to seem insurmountable to rebel weaponry, in fact at one point Luke literally says "that armor's too strong for blasters" and while WEG nerds like myself know there's a difference between a blaster and a fighter scale laser cannon, when the movies were new and there wasn't really an "EU" beyond that really weird Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel, the terms were used more or less as synonyms. Not to mention there is the couple scenes where the static emplacements such as the 1.4 "FD P-Tower" which was a dedicated anti-vehicle system, and the DF.9, touted as an anti-infantry battery, both harmlessly get absorbed (one shot looks like it's eaten by a shield or something because it hits between the two front legs where nothing solid was, yet something shimmers and stops the shot, indicating possible shielding). When the scene cuts to Veers inside Blizzard-1, you can see incoming fire but it's spattering off without even a thump. It was barely an inconvenience to he and his driver and gunner. I still remember the toys back then had "battle damage" where if you press down on a certain spot the thing flies apart which, while cool, made the thing easy to break or have small pieces go missing, as happened to mine.. but that's another issue.
I totally agree that the snow speeders were just under-gunned to fight the AT-ATs, but the X-wings would have been. That's why, imo, they specified early in the episode that they were having troubles adapting the starfighters to fly in-atmosphere. I don't think they ever had the time to get the starfighters fit to fly in-atmosphere for more than a few minutes before failure (presumably due to the moisture in the atmosphere freezing moving parts inside the engines, which wouldn't be an issue in space as there is no moisture)
Apparently people forget that we see a snow speeder blow up an AT-AT in 'Empire Strikes Back' - After Wedge makes his pass and the walker falls, two snow speeders making a strafing run on it - one appearing to hit the neck area causing an explosion that destroys it. Which is similar to what we see in Rogue One when the X-Wings hit it - in the neck, with the normal cannons. The snow speeders could not get an angle in their attack to hit them, especially while the walkers were in formation, and it's a very small weak point. Also - why turn a multi-role fighter in to a fuel tanker in the form of the F-18 (a variation that made the news recently for unfortunate reasons) or turn transports in like the C-130 in to a gunship armed with the same kind of artillery as a tank? Why turn a tank in to a mine sweeper, a bridge builder - if not a mobile bridge in general, or all the other things during and since WW2 that various tanks and the like have been converted to (or later purpose built for on basically the same chassis)? Real world militaries do this all the time - and one of the reasons is why you see multiple branches using the same aircraft - like the plans to move to the F-35, or just making an almost identical but newer version of something - parts commonality. My guess would be the AT-AT and AT-ACT mostly use the same parts, so anything made for one goes with the other, instead of making a different transport that has some ability to defend itself and is heavily armoured.
I've watched that scene multiple times. It looks like they hit the actual armor plating on the hull as I recall it. It's possible that the fall compromised the armor, or damaged the reactor. The neck being a weak point makes not that much sense either considering that even the windows are blaster-cannon resistant. I would assume the neck would be just as sturdy as the windows.
" we need to transport some secret cargo, got any ideas?"
"lets put it into a walking 10 floor apartment"
And how big are the forklifts that have to load/unload them? 🙂
It’s on a very secure planet protected by a planet shield
@@fullovstars9447 You know they probably just use Cranes and Elevators like we do IRL on construction sites that are like 10 stories tall.
Lulz. It works as long as you move enough non-sensitive cargo too, and the existence of the supply route itself doesn't need to be a secret.
I dunno. Seems like a good solution for a massive construction job on a coral atoll.
Can’t say I remember no AT-AT
I see what you did there, with the Goonies in Space! 😹
Lol
You win. Well done.
This 😂😂
Very nice.
I think it's also important to note that, at times, you see the X-Wings hitting the AT-ACTs in vulnerable spots (The first one is nailed with a surprise strike to the neck) or hitting them with Proton Torpedoes, designed specifically for those kinds of airstrikes. Another thing is that the one point where we see a mounted repeater take one down is by focusing sustained fire on a weak point. Something we didn't see on Hoth, nor really something the T-47 Airspeeders are really capable of.
Again Westend games really thought the term T-47 was for the snowspeeders when it's actually medical supplies especially when Luke refers to T-47s as larger modules, why would the snowspeeders be called modules why doesn't he just say snowspeeders if that was actually what he was talking about instead of medical supplies in big containers and also there's the part where they wouldn't put the snowspeeders on the transports at all when they are being used for ground support
iirc the repeater they use is an ion-repeater, and itactually causes the repulsor-support system in the knee to fail, whereupon it buckles under the weight of the vehicle, also @Cloningmaster55 Luke was referring to the airspeeders, as they are the T-47s, the term snowspeeder was a coloqual one for any airspeeder adapted to cold weather conditions.
@Huter2142 Again Westend games assumed T-47s were the Snowspeeders Luke wasn't talking about the Snowspeeders because them even being considered for being loaded on the transports makes no sense at all what would they use for ground support and actually having a chance at taking down the attacking walkers and any other fighter craft are being utilized else where for escorts for the transports among other things, Westend games have made all kinds of decisions that really shouldn't have stuck and been approved by Lucasfilm as canon info which has still stuck even after Disney
@@Cloningmaster55 The first Westend Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game was released in (1987) there are books older than that calling the T-47 a snow speeder, like the Guide To The Star Wars Universe (1984). It is page 174 on the Internet archive if you want to see it.
@@Cloningmaster55 You're technically right. But I like to imagine Luke was talking about parts they were not using on the T-47s. Since they had them kitted out for snow duty with tow cables, their warm weather gear and other "modules", were being loaded into the transports.
So it can be both.
Eck, I would just like to say, I’ve been following your channel and your coverage of Star Wars since your episodes speculating on The Last Jedi, and I must say, it has been quite the journey witnessing you growing from some guy recording Star Wars theories on his phone in his car, to being one of the largest voices not just on this wonderful franchise, but also on UA-cam as a whole,
Thank you for all the memories you have given us Eck, and I can say confidently we’re not going anywhere.
Thank you my friend, really appreciate you saying so.
Thank you so much my friend, really appreciate you saying so.
@@EckhartsLadder Please do an expose on these copywrite strikers. Other similar companies have taken down a number of other popular channels in the past or caused real issues. They basically try to hold channels hostage for payouts and need to be made public for shaming.
@@EckhartsLadder Wonderful work. "I love you." - Frank
The Empire being "extremely extra" is such a perfect description
I guess that's the Tarkin Doctrine for you.
Over engineered
@@sirbachelorboredmen1314 Really, i thought it lacked, or perhaps the original sciprt/engineers we're limited in the 80's
Needs lateral lasers and the ability to decouple from legs to return to orbit in an emergency.
Imperial engineering is clearly modeled after NAZee engineering... 75% "what the eff were you thinking" 20% "oh wow, that's perfect" and 5% "holy shite".
What if instead of AT-ATs, the Empire built a Death Star and blew up Alderaan just to punish Princess Leia Organa for being a member of the Rebel Alliance however at Yavin 4 a farmer boy from Tatooine blows up the Death Star by exploiting a vent which led directly to the core.
What are you talking about
Would never work plot wise
Won’t they need prisoners to build the Death Star’s laser tho? what if those prisoners rebel with the one leading them not being able to swim?
Please keep theories/alt-scenarios somewhat believable.
nah I like the canon plot better
Even when you think about Ep. 5 itself. The snowspeeders tried firering at the At-Ats at first. Then they where suprised, that they where to heavily armored. So this heavy armor seems to be a relativly new thing for the rebels.
Which does explain the transition from the so-called Prototype AT-AT to the one we see during the movie.
*firing
*were
*were
*too
*relatively
@@darthbane5357 darth bane collecting negative energy for his power by correcting comments is canon
@@clydecraft5642 😂
From Chapter 14 of X-Wing: Isard’s Revenge: “Out of the hangars trotted a quartet of AT-ATs, the Imperial walker units that had wrought so much havoc at Hoth. They moved quickly, not looking as cumbersome and slow in the light snow as they had on Hoth’s icefields. Back then we were in airspeeders-undergunned and overmatched. A smile slowly twisted his lips. Not the case this time.” Following this quote, the Rogues proceed to make quick work of the AT-ATs using their X-Wings.
It’s easy to think that a blaster is a blaster is a blaster, but the power difference between the snowspeeders on Hoth and the X-Wings flown by Rogue Squadron in this novel-or the U-Wings used by the Rebels at the Battle of Scarif-really are an order of magnitude more powerful. So yup, that is why the AT-ACTs crumbled under fire from starfighters whereas the AT-ATs seemed nigh invincible during the Battle of Hoth.
At Hoth, the Rebels used Anti-Vehicle cannons on the AT-ATs to no effect. Then again, they were hitting the heavily armoured legs and "heads".
I recall in one novel, the X-Wings used proton torpedoes to take out the AT-AT's. A single proton torpedo was enough to eviscerate an AT-AT.
This makes one wonder how powerful Star Wars weapons really are...
Blasters < Blaster Cannons < Lasers < Laser Canons < Turbo Lasers < Super Turbo Lasers
From what I've seen and based on weapons fighters have, I have reasoned a single proton torpedoes has the same damage potential of a single shot from a turbo laser. X-Wings use blaster cannons to laser cannons, depending on source. The Radar-Dish Anti-Vehicle (Atgar 1.4 FD P-Tower) cannons are just lasers with a low rate of fire. Hence their ineffectiveness.
They literally have X-wings at Hoth and choose to use the snowspeeders instead. Why would they do this if they were "undergunned and underpowered"? Are the Rebels just stupid?
@kapitankapital6580 they wanted to save the X-Wings for escorting the transports past Destroyers, maybe? On one hand makes sense, don't risk losing X-Wings to AT-,AT guns, on the other... 2 per snow speeders, that's a potential big risk of losing available pilots for the X-wings...
@@stevenblankenheim4016 that was my first thought as well but then we see there are clearly X-wings left over including the one Luke uses to escape in. In fact we see at least four if not five X-wings in that final scene. It is very much a deliberate choice by the Rebels to use snowspeeders instead of x-wings
@@stevenblankenheim4016,
If I was organizing the withdrawal... I wouldn't want the snowspeeders due to their limitations (purely atmospheric "fighters"). However, if I do have them, I'll try to make the best use of them and reserve the spacefighters for... well.. space. The pilots are going to be assigned to either ground defence (snowspeeders) or escort (X-Wings). The spacefighters of the pilots assigned to ground defence will be loaded onto the first couple of transports, for future use.
Of course, this isn't all that is required. There is the final moment of the withdrawal when the shield generator is destroyed and the airspace (not just the space-space) is going to be covered in fighters to prevent the transports from leaving the system (preferably prevented from leaving the planet's atmosphere). Worse, the Ion Cannon would no longer operational so the transports need to worry about starships in their path too, not just fighters.
It's at this moment that is the most dangerous part. It makes sense to reserve some X-Wings for the pilots of the Snowspeeders so they can clear air of enemy fighters, while the pilots assigned to escort the transports prepare to defend the transports in space as they make their escape run. If there are too many spare X-Wings, just have people on standby who know how to use their controls, to pilot them out of the system. If they die on the way out, that sacrifice means the imperials who killed them have less time to disable the transports. If there are too few, then the spare pilots board the transports.
All of this makes it convenient for Luke to have R2 waiting for him... so he can go AWOL to Dagobah for several months.
I just assumed that, as "modern" Star Wars was showing more in its films since TFA, it just boiled down to the sheer power difference between the various types of lasers, blasters, etc. being used as opposed to differences in the armor of the AT-AT style walkers. (Like how they emphasized how much stronger and more accurate Chewie's Bowcaster was, as essentially a sniper weapon, compared to Han's blaster pistol.)
The Snowspeeder was armed with what would amount to "small arms" blaster fire made for hitting much softer targets (like Wampas, Probe Droids, smaller walkers like the AT-ST, AT-PT, etc.), so it would be like trying to use a couple vehicle mounted 5.56 or 7.62 mm machine guns against a tank - it just wouldn't be very effective unless the tank is already heavily damaged (like the AT-AT that was brought down by the tow cable in ESB) - but the laser cannons used on a starfighter like the X-Wing would be *much* stronger than a speeder's blasters, amounting to something like the 30 mm GAU-8 Avenger cannon on the A-10 Thunderbolt II / Warthog or the 20 mm cannons on jet fighters which can shred tanks.
💯 This.
Admit it, part of writing this comment was just a way to show off your knowledge of various machine gun calibres XD
Those guns can't shred a modern main battle tank. The original A-10 pilot coloring book (you read that right) points out that modern MBT's in the 80s were invulnerable from the front, and were only good targets from the top, sides, and rear. In Operation Desert Storm in 1991, they were using primarily anti-tank guided missiles to destroy tanks, and the Avenger cannon to destroy soft and lightly armored targets.
@kapitankapital6580
No, it was literally just my observation from watching the movies and trying to make IRL comparisons.
@@drrocketman7794 except you can find plenty of tanks in Iraq that were shredded by the A-10 cannon. In fact the Air Force did tests and found the cannon with its DU ammo will take out modern tanks.
I just thought the xwings / u wings main guns are a crap ton stronger than a snowspeeders as well
Agreed. I will say, I don't think the sling-mounted ion canons on the U-wing should have worked though. That's certainly less powerful than the main laser canons on a snow speeder. The main starfighter weapon though on the U-wing probably would be.
@@danielbroome5690 Thing is, taking out vehicles is the main purpose of ion cannons because they disrupt electrical systems and can completely disable a vehicle with sustained fire. That's why they work even though the snowspeeder's lasers didn't.
Snow speeder is listed as having blasters, xwing is listed as having laser cannons
AT-ACT makes a ton of sense as a combat transport as well. Its armored against attack, and has the same mobility capabilities of the heavier walkers it would follow. Just some head cannon tho, but it fits.
The AT-ACT is literally a war machine repurposed for construction work, all they need to do put a mag crane its back and its perfect. Also the base AT-AT is a combat transport just a very ill suited one because of its height.
One of the things most ignore in these “Why don’t they use…?” discussions is the logistics of manufacturing, maintenance, and transportation.
So, yeah, standardizing factories and parts is a great advantage in mass warfare in a large theatre. The logistics of an industrialized war machine are more important than specialization (ya, I know, I know the Empire does that too) and ideal deployments.
It helped win WWII, which was a main inspiration of Star Wars.
On the flipside, smaller adversaries have to cobble together what they can get, use effective tactics, and end up with highly-specialized apparatus out of necessity while their opponent throws hordes of standardized equipment in an effort to leverage their superior numbers via mass production.
Head cannons are what AT-ATs have. I think you mean head-canon.
They definitely added extra armor on the pilot/head and it shrugged off a rocket
Funnily, the AT-ACP IS the heavier walker, its about 1/4th as large again compared to a standard AT-AT if memory serves, to the point in needed repulsor support systems in the knees or it buckles under its own weight, doubly when fully laden
The AT-ACT actually does make sense. They can wade through fairly deep water and go places repulsorlift vehicles. If you're on a backwater planet, there may not be roads or conditions suitable for repulsorlift transports (dense swamps, etc.). Having a walker that can simply force its way through and is tall enough to keep the cargo dry makes a lot of sense. An AT-ACT makes its _own_ roads.
AT-ACT was also made bigger than the AT-AT because someone, I believe the director, wanted it to look even more intimidating
Also according to I think the visual guide, the gunners on the U-Wings were using ion rounds that distrusted the magnetic fields or some shit on the legs causing them to buckle easier.
The X-Wings in the movie also if you look closely attack structurally weak points like the neck.
Apparently the gunner on the U-wing was incredibly skilled hence able to hit the same spot far more then most gunners would be able to.
Y'know, with their weakness to fighters, or even the smaller snowspeeders for that matter, it annoys me that the First Order didn't bother adding some AA support to protect their walkers. Add some side guns like the old WW2 bombers had, or maybe a flak-walker that walks alongside them.
Honestly, it's kinda weird that we don't really see a air support accompanying walker actions more often, A. because the most famous time AT-ATs were taken down, it was aircraft that did it, so an escort that can drive off enemy fighters just makes sense, B. because a combined air-and-armor offensive would further drive home the comparison to one of the Empire's major real world influences, and C. because TIE Strikers are really cool, underutilized ships.
@tonysladky8925 well how many battles featuring walkers do we actually see? There's Hoth, where arguably they can't use them because of the shield, there's Endor where they can't use them because of the trees, and there's Crait where they do use air cover.
@@tonysladky8925 you forgot that Scarif was a heavily guarded "military-industrial complex, becoming a center for top-secret research" with orbital shield.
None of the Empirials were expecting direct attacks on the complex.
I think they did add armour, ( first order) and they used the older at at as escorts
1:40 you know what else is massive?
My mom
LOWWWW TAPERRRR FADEEEEEE
My questions about the AT-AT are why ONLY FOUR cannons ON THE HEAD? There's a ton of other places you could mount cannons to have better defensive and offensive capabilities. it has HUGE blind spots and VERY limited firing angles. It's big, which can totally be intimidating, but it's not really dangerous. The other question. Both sides have energy shield capabilities, albeit used sparingly, why not but shield generators on it? If only on the legs? If I was in charge of either side, I'd lean HEAVILY into putting energy shields in EVERYTHING possible, not just on buildings and the odd droid here and there. It would give my side a HUGE advantage! And both sides, especially the Empire, have shown they actually DON'T have a shortage of resources, tech, or arms to do so. The empire has more, sure.
because it was a truck, not a tank. it moved personnel and cargo from place to place. the weapons were light because it wasn't supposed to be it's primary mission.
energy shielding i believe in cannon is actually fairly expensive, whereas armor is cheaper. that's why the X-wings have shields and the TIE fighters don't: the rebellion had fewer pilots so went with quality, but the Empire had a truly mind-blowing manpower pool and therefore needed to save money on the fighter craft they employed, and their tactics reflect that. The Rebellion specialized in Hit and Run attacks (like we see in Rouge One in the bombing run after Jyn Erso's father was killed) and they needed a fighter that could tank a few hits and run away, but the Empire, having so many pilots, could afford higher losses and thus employed more swarm tactics with the TIEs. There ARE variants of the TIE that have shields (Darth Vader's TIE fighter being the most prominent) but they are specifically noted as being more expensive.
Well, the Empire are basically space nazis, and even the original nazis made some really dumb decisions with their war machines. Lots of tanks with a single forward firing MG in a ball mount on the front hull, often fired by the driver, so they had no anti-infantry protection from most sides. Usually not even a co-axial MG on the main turret either. Meanwhile the US tanks were covered in machine guns, all the machine guns.
Should there be more guns on the AT-AT to cover blind spots? Absolutely yes. Does it match actual real world fascist war machines? Also yes.
You could say this about real world tanks. Why dont they have machine guns etc. pointing at all directions? Well cost is one thing and then you have the fact that mounting more weapons would also cause more weak points to the armor. The point is that these are supposed to be heavily armored transports and long range "artillery" and not really direct combat vehicles.
"the empire is extremely extra" goodness if that isn't an understatement
I don't care how "silly" they are, I love AT-ATs. Have a little parade of diecast ones marching across my desk. I do think the Empire should have kept the tail gun that some of the earlier models had though. In my fics, the Empire of the Hand adds the tail gun back on, and also takes a page from the Gungan Grand Army (seriously!) and sticks shield generators on top of its AT-ATs, so that it can protect smaller walkers, other vehicles like Juggernauts (canonically used by the Hand in the short story in "Crisis of Faith" by Timothy Zahn) and infantry in its battlegroup, as well as extra protection against those pesky starfighters.
I work in law myself, and I'm in southern Ontario too. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm a legal assistant, and believe me, that's enough work! I don't blame you one bit for leaving -- my bosses are constantly stressed out, even though I do my best to help them. I'm positive UA-cam is more enjoyable, and I wish you well!
Love the Siivagunner Kirby Squeak Squad rip at the end
That's what that was. Link that!
Talk about Skeleton Crew, I’m really liking it and my son likes it because the characters are his age.
Well, the one from Rogue One isn't the AT-AT, but it was the AT-ACT. Both of them are different vehicles and have their weaknesses and strengths. 0:35
“That armor’s too strong for blasters!” You’re totally right about that.
"The Empire is extremely extra" is such a W take
7:50 “Somehow the copyright claims returned!”
I think we should split the AT-AT variants into the Mark 1 (Rebels), Mark 2 (OT), Mark 3 (First Order)
I assume that there probably was a variant or two in between the GCW AT-AT and the FO AT-AT. The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer kinda puts a hole in that but I think there’s a chance it happened
@@Zombotron5678 Maybe the first order one can be a Mark 4 or Mark 3 Star (Or Mk 3*)
star wars youtube is struggling because star wars in general is struggling.
Eck’s channel used to kind of be more focused space battles, starships, vs battles, that kind of thing. I think the content has just gotten a bit low effort.
@@BalthasarGelt-x2dikr, I loved when he partnered with etc Henry I think and made that short film (animation)!
Like I remember I originally subscribed to this channel because of things like the battle breakdowns, factions compared, etc.
@@BalthasarGelt-x2dI agree, it seems like a rapid commentary channel rather than a lore one.
However, in his defense, he has days worth of Star Wars lore of canon and non canon vehicles. To say it bluntly, there are no new encyclopedias or guidebooks coming out and Disney’s rate of making new interesting lore material is lower.
Additionally, he likely posts these videos to supplement his longer ones and is likely not earning much from them. So it’s probably not out of greed
@@BalthasarGelt-x2d well lets face it. The writers at lucasfilm are mostly all woman. And women dont write stories about war.
Considering its called STAR WARS.
Its struggling because modern star wars is just space drama, focusing heavily on peoples feelings an girl bosses. These are the same stupid writers that didn't know basic science, like fire in space doe's not work. But there it is in the Acolyte.
Its written by people that don't have a life because they live online.
LucasFilm Exec: We've got this new AT-AT variant for "Rogue One" that's even bigger than the ones from Hoth. It'll make a great toy.
Hasbro Exec: That'll be awesome! I can get my team on that as soon as you can send us the schematics! It'll make our Super-Deluxe AT-AT toy from 2010 look wimpy by comparison!
Disney Exec: Make it barely bigger than the 1980s one and charge three times the price of the 2010 one!
It actually had nothing to do with marketing or merchandise,
it was the director, he just wanted a bigger AT-AT so it was more intimidating
At 3:08, they are getting wifi!
Wouldn't it be the first order variant because it had a giant howitzer cannon on top of it to fire giant artillery blasts to one old Jedi
congrats on a mill subs man i love your videos so if you have to go another way with your videos ill still be here for the content you have a good way of presenting info
It was self-explanatory when I saw Rogue One. I knew that the walkers on Scariff were an earlier model and the Empire must have realized after that defeat that they needed to design walkers that were less destructible. They had achieved this by the time of the battle of Hoth.
they were always said to be cargo transports. the at-ct at-at at-st crews can be trained to operate all three vehicles. plus parts etc would to a degree be interchangeable.
Love your videos, keep on making them!😁
I gotta say, I'm very glad you're doing another analysis, and not just complaining about the most recent episode of something. I've been a big fan for years, and I'm glad you're doing some more speculative and creative stuff rather than turning up your nose at the Disney shows episode after episode. Thanks, hope you do more of this again.
The All Terrain Armored Cargo Transport (AT-ACT) was a larger version of the standard All Terrain Armored Transport combat walker that featured a dedicated cargo bed for the transportation of heavy building materials or combat munitions.
Happy 1 million subs, Eckhart. You deserved it. Keep going strong!
Great review! Also worth noting: Commercial uses for this design. We see modifications of walker designs for cargo lifting on and in many ports and scrapyards, e.g. in The Mandolorian.
6:30 Former legal worker couldn’t afford a home and support his family because Toronto is so expensive 😅
I figured the walker in rogue one went down so easily is because the x wing pilot used a torpedo.
And pretty much anything happened in R1, destroying canon (Galen didn't "put a weakness in", the superstructure was finished in RoTs), old ships retired a thousand years ago are now magically in service - anything's possible with bad writing.
@@nerdock4747 Completely and utter false it doesn’t break canon at all. In ROTS only the frame was complete and construction projects can go in reverse if something goes wrong, hence why the dish is partially complete in ROTS but is not there at all in Andor or Rogue One before they place it in. All the wiring, piping, generators, weapons and everything else that needed to be added to the death star was done in the 19 years leading up to Rogue One, it is after the work on the station “stalled” that they bring Galen back to help finish it around about 13BBY, he then proceeds to put multiple little flaws into it so that construction is considerably longer, giving the rebellion time to grow and become organised before they are capable enough to take on the empire. He then proceeded to put a thermal exhaust port into the station which honestly wouldn’t be a problem if nobody knew, so he leaks the info on a holo recording, gives it to a defecting pilot and tells him to take it to the one rebel he trusts, Saw Gerrera.
Also, what ships were in Rogue One that were “retired thousands of years ago” ?
@@nerdock4747 The Hammerhead corvette isn't a Hammerhead cruiser
@@nerdock4747 star wars fans often know so much, yet so little about what they're watching
Rise of Skywalker should have used the AT-M6. They was a one off in TLJ. You could actually destroy the AT-AT with the Snow Speeder in Shadows of The Empire with its laser cannons.
It's weird. ALL sequel movies have their own variations of Walkers.
The Force Awakens
AT-MA
AT-PD
The Last Jedi
AT-M6
AT-AT
AT-ST
AT-HH
The Rise of Skywalker
UA-TT
Star Tours shows them get blown up...but not the movie. Lol
@@phillyskyguy9535that’s why Star Tours are much better than the actual films.
@@phillyskyguy9535they even get blown up by Luke’s deflective force power lightsaber skills by their own blaster bolts in the alternative version of The Last Jedi and Lego Star Wars the Skywalker Saga.
I think the AT-ACT works well on Scarif because it’s long legs would allow it to easily move through the shallow waters around the citadel and landing pads.
I would love a variant of an AT-AT that sacrifices forward firepower and troop carrying capability for some formation escort ability by have a fast tracking aa laser cannon turret on the top of the back, plus 2 medium anti-vehicle cannons on the sides one each to protect against flanking vehicles and several repeating blasters mounted in blisters that can fire downwards to defend against enemy infantry that try to aim for the neck gap or use the grapple hook and detonation pack like Luke did in empire strikes back. Probably not the most practical or efficient but it seems why such a variant has never been tried considering the Empire would make a cargo transport variant of the AT-AT
Dang, hope you are able to get that issue sorted out, but happy new year and keep the awesome content coming please!
Yo Eckharts congratulations on hitting 1mil subscribers.
A much younger me actually really liked the AT-AT, when I first saw it, back in the late 80s, and fortunately, that me wasn't even distracted by any design shortcomings, or impracticalities, it might've had; it was just cool, and imposing. I do wish that it seemed slightly better with step/gait clearance, since it would seem to have been an advantage, having such long legs, if it could have stepped over more obstacles, but it does make me wonder how they loaded freight into the AT-ACT? I'm not familiar with those walkers being able to lower down, onto their bellies, and then get back up, to a standing position, so you'd need to lift whatever you were loading rather high, just to get it stowed, and while I'd almost never use a word like "practical" to describe anything that the Empire did, this just seems even more silly here. 😊
I wish people would stop using the term "plot hole" completely wrong.
I like the empire at war awakening the rebelion take, 2 diffrent models, an early one deaigned more for anti personal peace keeping oporations and a more heavaly armored combat oriented version that trades the laser cannon turret on the back in exchange for better armor and a heavier, ant vehical armment and better protection edit 4:25 i absolutely love that version, artillary/anti orbital AT-AT technical
I believe the hump on the back is comprised of fatty tissue that stores water for lond distance travel
awesome video dude my favorite movie is Empire(odd I know) so seeing more information on these is awesome.
What kind of military doctrine would you personally have the empire adopt besides Tarkin Doctrine?
We currently have armored tractors used by SeaBees and engineers. They were basic tractors with armored glass and armor plate around it. They're meant to be used in areas that might be under fire and combat conditions. Makes sense to have an armor transport like the AT-ACT. It could act as both a transport but also a crane other other industrial units in a combat zone for setting up firebases and FOBs.
I always chalked it up to the fact Snowspeeders are armed with heavy blasters vs. the X-Wing and U-Wing's laser cannons.
in the book during preparation for battle, during the Battle of Hoth, it does mention that the snow speeders were supposed to be standard ice scout vehicles, that the alliance had jerry rigged weaponry onto. also in the movies they did try to shoot the AT-AT's to no avail, in the same spots that the people dur9ing rogue one tried, so it may be that the armor was newer to that time or a prototype that was in the middle of testing
The AT-AT armour in ESB magically becomes completely ineffective once it's on its knees
I think someone even says that they need to draw the fire during the battle of Hoth, It also sounded like from the beginning that they were heavily modifying the ships to be able to operate in the cold. So it made some sense to me that the ships had some of their fighting equipment removed and replaced, for instance by the grappling hooks for the construction of the Hoth base. To be fair I also assumed that the snowspeeders were also not actualy capable of getting into space and like the land speeders where just using suborbital drives or something.
they're called @ @
Hi Eck, I've been watching you since you've had less than 1,000 subs, and I'm very proud to see what you've achieved! I still remember the time where your intros would be a full minute long haha! I do low-key miss that from time to time.
I wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2025! Let this be a year full of good star wars content and another year I'm subscribed to you! (Now that I write that, is there a way to check how long you've been subscribed to someone?)
This video made me feel like a kid again and I love it!
The snowspeeders have blaster cannons as armament. X-Wings have laser cannons that are stronger.
I feel like the AT-AT has too many variations that aren't distinct enough, it's like the ISD I and II. Yeah it's technically different, but visually it's whatever
Honestly, this is a problem with a lot of Star Wars ships, especially with the art direction of the sequels. I'm sure to the very small subset of nerds who pore over the technical stats of fictional machines presented in supplements like Incredible Cross Sections or the rules for various tabletop or video games, this is heresy, but to most people, the T-70 X-wing, the TIE/fo TIE Fighter, and the Xyston Class Star Destroyer are just a new coat of paint on ships we've been seeing since the 1970s.
Maybe I'm biased because it's my favorite Legends content, but the Incom X-83 Twintail and CF9 Crossfire, the Sienar Predator, and the Pelllaeon-class Star Desyroyers from Star Wars: Legacy are vastly superior ships because, while clearly inspired by X-wings, TIE Fighters, and Imperial-class Star Desyroyers, they're visually distinct from the OG Star Wars ships.
I think that's partly why the Venator and AT-TE are so refreshing and so well received. Not only are they outrageously classy designs, but they're familiar and different enough without being ripoffs.
4:10 Snowspeeders were not intended as Frontline combat vehicles. They were intended as Scouts and pickets, lightly armed and armoured.
They were intended to gather information and send it back. They were intended to be nimble, agile and either push forward along the line of advanced seeking contact or patrolling a area and screaming loudly when the enemy found them. Basically, Scouts and pickets are just very noisy trip wires! They're given light weapons so they can Force the bad guy to keep their heads down and take cover while the Scout / picket breaks contact, but the armor is kept light to keep them mobile. It's like sending a m113 or a loach against an advancing main battle tank force! A futile gesture and forlorn hope that some unlikely Stroke of Luck will delay the enemy briefly as they pause to turn you into a spectacular Fireball and wreckage pattern.
people over here complaining that a mounted Ion cannon is doing Ion cannon things because it's a DISNEY MOVIE
Seriously.. the dumbest discussion possible. Like these people can’t imagine something being done because it looks imposing and terrifying
Video Game AT&T: "Exists"
Game: "Whelp, guess it's tow rope time"
When you are stupid enough NOT to have a top mounted turret, it helps a lot when your enemy is stupid enough to attack from the front in order to get shot at in order to be downed in order to be in jeopardy.
snowspeeders aren't aerial enough to dive bomb from upper atmos.
It isn’t shown in Rogue One either, but Scariff has some ridiculously dangerous wildlife too, so having the protected and armed AT-ACT would be a lot more preferential for transport, compared to a light repulsorlift.
You dodged a bullet getting out of the six. It's nothing a but a sess pool right now and it's infecting the entire golden horseshoe.
#AskEck
Why do you think the pirates kept grogu, there was quite obviously a bounty on him considering all the hunters with tracking fobes and I doubt they wouldn't have known about it, so we're actually protecting him. My theory is that after he was saved after the purge, so senator or rebel group hired these pirates to protect him, but was eventually captured by the empire or forgot about grogu, (why he was never given to the new republic after the war), and the pirates not knowing he was a jedi just kept and raised him till mando showed up, killed them and stole their kid.
My head cannon since I started seeing those different varieties farther in the past was that the Hoth walkers were an up armored direct assault model that was more resistant to blaster fire. So there are different versions for different situations, just like real military varieties of tanks.
The at-act was a cargo walker, also the "prototype" at-at was actually called the at-at2 because it was made after the at-at and was made for battle and transport, the at-at used at hoth was used as an intimidation tactic, and to carry large numbers of troopers, filled with around 40 troopers each, they werent good at defending some attacks, stronger starfighters like x wings. The empire knew the rebels wluldnt use x wings and were mostly only ising troops, so they used the at-at
Also in a star wars comic during the clone wars the Early AT-AT made an appearance. The design was built and made in the clone wars. The Empire just MODERNIZED it.
Thanks Eck! AT-AT has been my favorite Imperial assault vehicle, and I guess now transport vehicle!
If I was in charge of the walker redesign, I'd include serrated sickle bar style blades to the front of the legs to prevent cable entanglement or trip wires.
hmm yes a walker yes hmm very interesting i do love these at-at machines
I mean scariff is small islands and shallow water the whole way around it with the islands often being covered in trees. Honestly the ATCT makes sense when you want to move materials around an environment like that because it can cross the islands and the water with ease and easily navigate its way through any ground foliage.
“Obviously we can’t just put these mass materials into like, juggernauts, or even simple ICT’s. Nah, let’s put it in the MASSIVE WALKER!!! BWAHAHAH-“
- the imperial officer behind the creation of the AT-ACT
I'd also imagine the AT-ACT is more efficient than a freighter or repulsor because all it needs is energy to run compared to fuel that a ship needs, and doesnt rely on an external energy net like a train does. The AT-ACT would also be significantly less detectable, which would make it viable for long range transport between secretive sites on planets not QUITE under enough scope for them to be detected.
That thumbnail is the best, scariest looking pic of an ATAT EVER!
I firmly believe the hoth battle was destined to have the AT-ATs galloping towards the rebel lines, literal armored cavalry charging with earth shaking hoofbeats. somewhere along the way the timeline was broken forever and we were robbed of that magnificent and terrifying sight
I mean assuming there is some kind of crane system inside, having a tall, walking cargo carrier could honestly really come in handy in a lot of situations. Especially if it's capable of providing on-site power for any engineering or building needs. It wouldn't be the fastest means of transporting cargo, but I could see a huge number of benefits to having them, especially if they could doublecas a troop transport with just a few adjustments.
Seeing the first order walkers just screams when your playing with a little kid and all they do is say their toy is bigger and better and beats your toy
The snow speeders at Hoth were retrofitted with Y-Wing parts, because they wanted the extra fire power.
At Scarif, I would’ve thought that the AT-Series were less massive because of the lower compressive force that the terrain could handle.
There was also the MT-AT, Mountain Terrain Armored Transport. If I remember right, they were in the original Thrawn trilogy, with 6 legs.
At Hoth they specifically said that the AT-At's armor was "too strong for Blasters". The T-47s had blasters. Blasters are anti-infantry weapons. Fighter-scale laser cannons are much more powerful. The term "blaster" gets thrown around a lot but it generally goes Blaster-->Laser-->Turbolaser on the weapons scale.
The problem with huge walkers is that theyre too stupid to make believable as a prolific vehicle. They dont make sense as a transport, they dont make sense as an elevated weapons platform, and they are apparently easily destructable. You just have to accept its for the "cool".
Yeah I always figured the snowspeeders just didn't have the raw firepower to break the shields, or puncture the thick armor of the AT-AT unless a weak spot was exposed (like when it was tripped, which probably popped its shield bubble and compromised its armor plating). That, and by then the Rebellion was using refurbished, older, weaker tech due to scarcity of materials.
The ones on Scarif, even if they were cargo haulers... they weren't very lucky. There's that one shot in this vid where a rocket or a shot goes right into the open cargo bay and snaps the walker's spine because that would be one of its weakest points, given it's side armor was entirely missing.
Congratulations on a million subs.
Being a "GALACTIC" empire doesn't really make sense, however, if it is a Galactic empire, then you would expect even more variants than are shown. You'd probably have countless variants of walkers, each for different purposes. When you want to travel unknown terrain, then a tall vehicle could make sense. Aside from mountains, it could step over obstacles that would stop speeders and tracked/wheeled vehicles. In addition, they are a larger than a football field. They can carry a lot of stuff and equipment. Extreme height gives a good perspective of the terrain below, and also keeps important stuff out of range of lesser vehicles. For instance, if you were in charge of an Abrams Main Battle tank, how would YOU deal with an AT-AT?
Walkers don't necessarily have to be slow, either. If there's enough power to move the legs far enough & fast enough, a walker could outpace a smaller vehicle with one step. There's still a process in catching the other legs up, though. A moving fortress can be a pretty intimidating machine, but raising it above ground level also makes if difficult to counter from the ground level. If you have the resources to make such a contraption, and the energy to power it, it's not such a crazy idea. You could probably carry enough stuff in one of those to either raise a city or raze a city, in a very short time. You could certainly capture or build a fortress pretty quickly.
The empire being defeated by teddy bears was a plot hole
The cargo version of the AT-AT being more armoured does kinda make sense. Maybe ridiculous, but you are sure your cargo is safe ish from attacks. Like pirates and such
I like to think some of the whacky and seemingly redundant variants of Imperial vehicles, weapons, troopers, etc in Legends came down to the officials in charge of an area wanting their own cool stuff because they had excess budget, or didn't want to adopt a rival officials project and look as if they were below them. So that's how you get the hot climate survival backpack stormtroopers you see on Tatooine, but also the EVO troopers from The Force Unleashed which can withstand many varying harsh climates rather than just desert heat. The Imperial Navy seems to have been more cooperative with each other. They all liked using the same starships for the most part. There were a few variants here and there like the Tector Star Destroyer, and smaller ships like the Gladiator Star Destroyer which were actually more of a pickett ship, thus under moff jurisdiction most of the time, but not many redundant variants. This kind of mirrors the military departmental rivalry in authoritarian regimes. Their cultures can be vastly different and they tend to not like each other.
It seems the Emperor had his own preferences, because when he returned to attempt to take over the galaxy in Dark Empire, he had new variants of almost everything. Including bigger, darker shaded, AT-ATs with turbolasers on their backs. He had that giant Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaught. Everything was bigger, meaner, and built for terror. He wasn't holding back this time. There were no illusions as to what his goals were. Everyone would obey or be destroyed. Absolute madman. Better than Rise of Skywalker.
It seems like since walkers are tall and unwieldy they would have maybe two turrets on top to counter star fighters, 1-2 turrets on each side to cover the flank, and a rear and belly turret. I know they’re typically meant to be supported by infantry, tanks, and maybe a star fighter compliment, but it seems that extra firepower would allow them to act as that main pushing force in an assault as well as something they can better act alone and now worry about the guerrilla tactics exploiting its weaknesses. Maybe it’s this way cause they’re more ment to be intimidating and the empire expect most fights to be won with their numbers and space superiority. Just a thought.
Damn, Marmar was wrecking shop as Storm. Mad props, that is not easy to do.
I'm a little biased because my favorite vehicle growing up was always the AT-AT. I would rewind and watch the battle of Hoth over and over because I liked them so much. It's sad that they get clowned on often but they kind of fit the policy of the Empire so well that makes up for all of their "cons". A heavily armored modular hull that could be fitted to carry troops or equipment and cargo. Has a 50 ft overwatch advantage to give supreme advantage to it's dual heavy laser cannons and dual independent dish laser cannons. It's relative ease to traverse swamps, mountains (not cliffs, but steep hills), rivers, lakes, plains, etc... and do so at a deceptively fast speed (35 mph). And while it does only have weapon systems in the front (besides being an early 'fantastical' vehicle compared to the more realistic tank style of the AT-TE), it kind of fits with the intimidating nature of the Empire. These giant machines were designed almost specifically to not only be functional but be as intimidating as possible to fit with the Tarkin Doctrine. And also, while it's not in the name I would also class it as an "Assault" vehicle which would make it's forward facing turrets make more sense considering it's designed to break through defenses and begin disembarking troops. Unfortunate that it's greatest weakness was getting tied up legs, but besides the fact that it was acknowledged as a weakness and covered up by bureaucracy. I feel like it's pretty rare for that Tactic to come into play if at all and also the counter to it would be either support troops or honestly... for the drivers to stop moving. It's like saying a Sherman tank is weak to having all of it's periscopes spray painted black and the top hatch held down so the tank can't see where it's going then it drives into a ditch and stops moving so we can go up and plant sticky bombs on it. Like you wouldn't stop making AT-AT's, you'd just put out a policy to not move then have your AT-ST's and supporting infantry put in a little work to keep them off of you.
I also look at the variances between Imperial equipment like international production differences on Earth. Like VW Beetle made in Germany vs one made in Mexico. Same design but different logistics and fabrication can mean different results.
The airspeeders not being effective against the ATAT armor is even kinda addressed in the movie.
Luke says "that armor is too strong for blasters." The word blaster is usually referring to handheld weaponry while lasers refer to more powerful shipboard weapons, or larger ground based emplacements.
The airspeeders are equipped with Blaster Cannons. Like Eck said, they are under powered, so have less powerful weapons that are basically high powered small arms fire like an E-Web. Fine against lightly armored vehicles and infantry, but useless against heavily armored targets.
Fighters like X-wings or TIEs on the other hand are equipped with Laser canons, which like Eck said are effective against even capitol starships, so would be effective against AT-AT plating.
Why they didn't try to use the wings can be chopped up to them being needed for the evacuation escort, or were being fully fueled and stocked for the same evacuation and the airspeeders were only buying time because they were ready to go.
Tho I will point out it did always vex me that after being tripped up and collapsing suddenly the armor fails and the thing is blown up with a couple blaster cannon shots from an airspeeder 🤔😁
What's the name of that cargo hauler in the image at 4:05? Never seen a pyramid shaped ship like that before.
also considering that Scarif (I think) is a pretty watery planet, having legs would make traveling through both water and land easy
Blizzard Squadron on Hoth was meant to seem insurmountable to rebel weaponry, in fact at one point Luke literally says "that armor's too strong for blasters" and while WEG nerds like myself know there's a difference between a blaster and a fighter scale laser cannon, when the movies were new and there wasn't really an "EU" beyond that really weird Splinter of the Mind's Eye novel, the terms were used more or less as synonyms. Not to mention there is the couple scenes where the static emplacements such as the 1.4 "FD P-Tower" which was a dedicated anti-vehicle system, and the DF.9, touted as an anti-infantry battery, both harmlessly get absorbed (one shot looks like it's eaten by a shield or something because it hits between the two front legs where nothing solid was, yet something shimmers and stops the shot, indicating possible shielding). When the scene cuts to Veers inside Blizzard-1, you can see incoming fire but it's spattering off without even a thump. It was barely an inconvenience to he and his driver and gunner. I still remember the toys back then had "battle damage" where if you press down on a certain spot the thing flies apart which, while cool, made the thing easy to break or have small pieces go missing, as happened to mine.. but that's another issue.
I always thought the at-act was most useful on scariff because it could easily walk across “deep” water.
Good theory
I totally agree that the snow speeders were just under-gunned to fight the AT-ATs, but the X-wings would have been. That's why, imo, they specified early in the episode that they were having troubles adapting the starfighters to fly in-atmosphere. I don't think they ever had the time to get the starfighters fit to fly in-atmosphere for more than a few minutes before failure (presumably due to the moisture in the atmosphere freezing moving parts inside the engines, which wouldn't be an issue in space as there is no moisture)
I always thought it was stupid that the snowspeeders didn't attack from behind.
Apparently people forget that we see a snow speeder blow up an AT-AT in 'Empire Strikes Back' - After Wedge makes his pass and the walker falls, two snow speeders making a strafing run on it - one appearing to hit the neck area causing an explosion that destroys it. Which is similar to what we see in Rogue One when the X-Wings hit it - in the neck, with the normal cannons. The snow speeders could not get an angle in their attack to hit them, especially while the walkers were in formation, and it's a very small weak point.
Also - why turn a multi-role fighter in to a fuel tanker in the form of the F-18 (a variation that made the news recently for unfortunate reasons) or turn transports in like the C-130 in to a gunship armed with the same kind of artillery as a tank? Why turn a tank in to a mine sweeper, a bridge builder - if not a mobile bridge in general, or all the other things during and since WW2 that various tanks and the like have been converted to (or later purpose built for on basically the same chassis)? Real world militaries do this all the time - and one of the reasons is why you see multiple branches using the same aircraft - like the plans to move to the F-35, or just making an almost identical but newer version of something - parts commonality. My guess would be the AT-AT and AT-ACT mostly use the same parts, so anything made for one goes with the other, instead of making a different transport that has some ability to defend itself and is heavily armoured.
I've watched that scene multiple times. It looks like they hit the actual armor plating on the hull as I recall it. It's possible that the fall compromised the armor, or damaged the reactor. The neck being a weak point makes not that much sense either considering that even the windows are blaster-cannon resistant. I would assume the neck would be just as sturdy as the windows.