Re: Would Earth Survive An Attack By The Empire?

[Guest]

I was thinking to myself about the United States and the world itself. We have alot of weapons, but could we survive an attack by the ruthless Galactic Empire? Our massive armament of nuclear weapons might protect us from the ground invasion but could they bring down an Imperial Star Destroyer? As an avid reader of Popular Science I have begun to notice that with the advent of the second term of the Bush administartion we have been increasing our high-tech weapondry systems. Laser defense systems ( Crusader Gunship anyone? ), EMP bursts ( Kryat destoyer? ), etc etc. So would out 'slug-throwers' be able to penetrate Stormtrooper armor? Could out tank's go toe-to-toe with AT-ST's? What about the fearsome AT-AT's? Would our Hornets and Stealth bombers perish in vicious dogfights against TIE fighters?

 

Well here's my opinon. Lets assume for arguments sake that a fleet of three ISD's come out of hyperspace above earth. It is the present day mind you. Imagine Independence Day if you will ( the movie not the event! ...idiots... ) Our country is on high alert but wish to make peace with the 'visitors'. The Imperial is here to survey the planet and dertermine it's importance to the Empire. Imperial officers order force to be used if there is any resistance. As they proceed to land and survey the planet, protests and riots begin.

"Kill the invaders!" is the general outcry. The UN and other militray leader's tell the Empire to leave or they can expect war. The Empire views us as backwards apes but out of respect ( we are human after all ) they give us a chance to take back our bold request. No go. The war begins. The Empire looks for a quick but brutal solution. To my knowledge, ISd's have no point defense systems so they would be succeptable to missile strikes and nuclear warhead attacks. So we launch a few ICBM's and the ISD's are destoryed. Or would they be? Imperial gunners are well trained. With the lighter anti-fighter guns could they shoot down the missiles? Probably not. We have alot, like over 2700 alot. So what do the ISd's have left. A little thing called shielding. There are two distinct types of deflector shields: ray shields, also known as energy shields, and particle shields. The first type protects against energy-based attacks, such as blaster or laser cannon fire, while the latter was developed in response to physical attacks, ranging from projectile missiles and incoming vehicles to asteroids and meteors. Commonly, larger ships and structures were protected by both types of shield, though starfighters often only projected ray shields. So what does an ISD have? A ISD-72x shield generator dome protects the Imperial Star Destroyer, no matter what the class.  They project both ray and particle shields. So technically an ISD could destroy the incoming missile with its particale shields. But could it prevent 2700? Who knows? On land I belive we could have a decent chance but I think slug throwers wouldn't penetrate Stormtrooper armor, unless it's a sniper rifle or a bolt action rifle of some kind, presumably. I have no experience with weapons outside of videogames.  AT-ST's could be taken down with Javelin anti-tank rockets but AT-AT's probably would be close to unstoppable unless the other Imperial vehicles and troopers around it are destroyed, we could proabably screw with it and plant some C4 or something. Well thats about it. Hey tell me what YOU think.

[Ghostly_Substance]

I watched 30 episodes of SDF-Macross in two days and was able to form these decisions below.

 

Well if its like you said that three Imperial Star Destroys came out of hyperspace and in orbit around the earth just to get check us out then we both would be cautious. They could send probots and/or cloaked units on every part of the globe just to see whats what. If its only three Imperial Star Destroyers got to be safe then sorry right? So they would take time studying us that way or just do the below:

 

If a landing ship did land and near a capital city (or just a city) just imagine the Star Wars fans thinking of them as people in costumes. To take the Imperials seriously there would have to be one Star Destroyer in the atmosphere and a few landing parties to join the ground with AT-AT, AT-ST & AT-AA escorts. Heck lets scare the population some more with Tie Fighters and Tie Interceptors so that they know the true power of the Imperials.

 

Now the question is where would they land? Its a foreign planet with many cultures and you land on one its not really the same as the other nation's view points. Land in North America and you got two choices, America screws themselves over or the Imperials cooperate with the Imperials tripping the Americans over their feet for a job well done screwing up the plan for a pro-longed war with the Middle-Easterns. If they land in Asia such as China we could see some monstrous events happening such as misscommunication and what not. Land in Japan and you got two choices, take it over and add the Imperial economy or help the Japanese all the while backstabbing them since they're Imperials. Europe as a whole? very questionable but most likely Europe would retaliate or just chicken out like they've been doing since World War 2. Africa? The next Tatooine.

 

Well as humans I say our fighting capabilities against whatever the ISD has (and if focusing purely on Air and land units) could be between 40-60%. We are pretty well handled for air to air combat so Tie Fighters would be scrap metal but come across a Tie Interceptor and we're good as toast. For land we could use our air superiority mixed with land based weapons to destroy AT-ST's but would air would be destroyed by AT-AA. We would have naval superiority until reinforcements came. Nukes? You mean those cowardly weapons? Ha don't make me laugh thats a retard's toy (no offense but seriously).

 

As for space, we got zero combat abilities and if we wanted to stand a chance against them the world would have to stop fighting against one another and create worthy stuff. However you would have to do it Macross or Gundam style where one has to stop bitching at one another for their own game, ya good luck with that. Well we could

[Droid803]

As it is...they just pelt us from orbit (planetary bombardment) with their ISDs, we're pretty f*cked.

Unless of course, they want our planet the way it is, not as molten slag.

[Guest]

As it is...they just pelt us from orbit (planetary bombardment) with their ISDs, we're pretty f*cked.

Unless of course, they want our planet the way it is, not as molten slag.

lols yeah thats what i was thinking.

 

If a landing ship did land and near a capital city (or just a city) just imagine the Star Wars fans thinking of them as people in costumes.

Don't think of it like that, not that it would make a big change in your idea but for simplicties sake lets agree that Earth has no idea no knowledge not even the movies books or video games about SW. okey-dokey?  ;D

[Ghostly_Substance]

Well then I guess sci-fi anime and the like is still in effect?

 

Well they're the Empire after all and want to get the most out of their buck. They'd probably find the fastest and most efficient way to reap the rewards from us somehow. If they destroy us they lose another way to make money through trade.

[Logan Felipe]

Nukes? You mean those cowardly weapons? Ha don't make me laugh thats a retard's toy (no offense but seriously).

Not to mention the extensive damage to our own planet's ecosystem and people.

 

I realized something else, too; compared to the star wars galaxy, Earth is immensely diverse.

 

SW has Ice planets, desert planets, volcanic planets, oceanic planets, jungle planets, temperate planets, and rocky planets. Earth is one planet, and it has all of those environments. That would make it very valuable; fresh water source (including from Triton, etc.) to supplement the empire's supply of drinkable water (which, due to the amount of land destroyed in the manufacturing of Warships, would be dwindling), food source (tenable lands in the Russian Steppes, California, Vietnam, etc.), mining capabilities (debatable; depends on what they'd use, but the upper class would like the diamonds collected, and could also be used for lightsabres. Includes the Asteroid belt.), potential biowarfare resource in diseases, animal venom, and parasites not found in SW (Chicken Pox sweeps the rebellion?), position in universe (the Earth system would provide an excellent location for research and experimental ship testing, far away from the Imperial public eye).

 

So in short, they have every reason to keep earth intact.

As for our weapons capabilities, consider the fact that truck mounted lasers wouldn't scratch a shielded vessel. We would be better off with ewok tactics (using knowledge of the environment). In the air, TIE lasers would cut through any modern Earth fighter jet like butter. Even if you shot a TIE down, you'd have to dipose of the nuclear reactor that powers it (see incredible cross sections) before it contaminates water supplies.

 

The first step would be UN negotiations with the empire. The Empire would pull the same tactic sidious used in Outbound flight; help us destroy our enemy before they jeopordize your safety. Fearing the consequences of noncompliance, World Leaders would be forced to accept their presence. We'd get more slack than most planets because of our being human. Then, slowly, they would take over our planet's governments, so when public outcry becomes firmly established, there's nothing they could do.

 

Eventually, Rebel groups would form. These rebel groups would make strategic strikes on various facilities. they'd introduce said diseases via contaminated gifts, such as food. They'd slap stolen ewebs on pick ups, salvaged tie laser cannons on jets, figure out how to reprogram droids by getting into jobs involving them in the empire, etc. They would have an arsenal made up of both SW and Earth tech. this would give them a slightly better chance of succeeding. Bullets would be useless against stormtroopers, as their armor is designed to deflect solid projectiles. they'd have to steal blasters. SW merchants contracted by the empire would eventually sell information regarding earth to the highest bidder. smugglers seeking to make a profit would run weapons and supplies and information to the insurgents in exchange for items deemed exotic in the SW Galaxy. At one point or another, they would learn of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Earth born imperial pilots serving as double agents would provide covert access to transports en route to the SW Galaxy. The rebels would contact the alliance, the alliance would intervene to win the support of Earth's population, and Earth would be enmeshed forever with the sw universe.

 

All of this assuming we ignore the whole "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" bit.

(That is, unless you throw in Star Trek Time rift generators and Stargate...well...stargates.)

[Guest]

ha i love it. Very Very good. Didn't know the TIE's were nuclear powered. *Gets up and grabs 'SW complete crosssections* OK well it appears that the fuel tank holds radioactive gas so you are kinda correct. Its not exactly nuclear, TIE's run off primarily solar power but yeah i see your point. Another thing is that Earth while very special is not exactly the only one of its kind. Caridia amoung others has a diverse of locals as earth does. Hmmmm this whole thing is giving me a good idea for a fan fic.......

 

Well then I guess sci-fi anime and the like is still in effect?

huh?  ??? what do you mean?

[Tank Buster]

I think slug throwers wouldn't penetrate Stormtrooper armor, unless it's a sniper rifle or a bolt action rifle of some kind, presumably.

 

If rocks and straw sized arrows from ewoks can kill storm troopers then I'm pretty sure our weapons would make quick work of plastic storm trooper armour.

 

Could out tank's go toe-to-toe with AT-ST's? What about the fearsome AT-AT's?

 

As cool as ATATs, ATSTs, and other walking vehicles are; they're really inneficient when you think about it. Mostly because you can't really knock a tank over. Whereas with walkers all you have to do is knock it over and it's down. Especially since ATATs can only shoot forward from the cockpit making it easy to flank. Then you'd just have to hit it hard enough to knock it over. Or just take out it's leg(s)with choppers. And most Imperial vehicles aren't sheilded. Easy prey for an A-10 ThunderBolt (AKA Warthog) to fill them full of holes or rip legs apart.

 

So on the ground we'd stand a good chance. But there's the simple fact that they can orbitally bombard us and we can't touch em back. They don't have to slag the whole planet. Using scanners and other sensory devices the star destroyers could tell where we keep our weapons and then they'd just slag all millitary locations. And if we managed to lanuch a few nukes at them....

 

a) they'd be intercepted and destroyed by fighter craft

 

b) the ships would be protected by sheilding (isn't a proton torpedo a nuclear weapon too?) If Star destroyers can take hits from proton torpedeos then surely they can take anything we throw at them.

 

c) not sure about this one, but I think even something as large as a star destroyer can out manuver our clumsy ballistic missles.

 

d) signal jamming, they're advanced communication tech could easly jamm our primitve communication systems.

 

As for TIE fighters we couldn't do much against them except with AA. Also know that we haven't had any realy dog fights since Vietnam and Korea. Nowadays we don't really have any aircraft equipped for dog fighting everything is an interceptor. If there were to be a conflict today involving modern aircraft the winner would be the one who's missles have the longest range and most accurate, and who's jest fly faster.

 

In star wars dogfights are silly battles remicsenct of WWII. Flying around very near your enemy and firing away with lasers. Hoping that you might score a few hits. Not very realistic for such advanced technology. But TIE's could probably outmanuver our missles with little difficulty. Except that TIE's are hindered by atmospheric conditions. But then they don't even need to send down TIEs in the first place.

Edited January 3, 2008 by Tank Buster

[Guest]

If rocks and straw sized arrows from ewoks can kill storm troopers then I'm pretty sure our weapons would make quick work of plastic storm trooper armour.

yeahs but thats just for the movie, like Stormtrooper syndrome where they can't shoot worth crap. The rocks and logs wouldn't have done squat if it was real.

[Logan Felipe]

If rocks and straw sized arrows from ewoks can kill storm troopers then I'm pretty sure our weapons would make quick work of plastic storm trooper armour.

 

Except the fact that the only time we see stormtroopers killed at the battle of endor (and even then, most appeared to be just incapacitated) are when their being strangled by ropes or knocked out with big rocks. The arrows in the movie were just a diversion; they all know that they wouldn't put a dent in the armor, but that doesn't make a wave of arrows flying at you any less unnerving. Only in battlefront do they do significant damage, and that's just for balancing.

 

For AT walkers, AT-STs would be theoretically simplest to defeat. explosives planted at ground level would throw them off balance, toppling them. AT-ATs are much more durable, however. Tanks wouldn't do well because the AT-ATs would crush them under their footpads. Unless we're lucky enough that they land in Alaska on an ice field, there's not much we could do. even if we tried using the cable techniqe, you have to realize that SW cables are made of advanced materials unavailable to us. Our cables would have to be strong enough to withstand the force exerted by the motors that drive it legs, or they'd just snap like string.

 

Bullets wouldn't scratch them. rockets would have to be well aimed as previouly mentioned. So basically, we'd be better off either overloading their circuitry, or knocking them over. also, we'd have to consider whether or not the weapons still fire once knocked over. This is an issue in Rebel Strike, where the some of the crashed ISD's turrets still work if you don't destroy them in orbit (naturally, this makes no sense due to the fact that atmospheric friction would wreak havoc on the turrets, but the principle works with ground vehicles).

Plus, once we destroy a few walkers with said techniques, they'd switch to using repulsor tanks instead.

[Guest]

Except the fact that the only time we see stormtroopers killed at the battle of endor (and even then, most appeared to be just incapacitated) are when their being strangled by ropes or knocked out with big rocks. The arrows in the movie were just a diversion; they all know that they wouldn't put a dent in the armor, but that doesn't make a wave of arrows flying at you any less unnerving. Only in battlefront do they do significant damage, and that's just for balancing.

 

For AT walkers, AT-STs would be theoretically simplest to defeat. explosives planted at ground level would throw them off balance, toppling them. AT-ATs are much more durable, however. Tanks wouldn't do well because the AT-ATs would crush them under their footpads. Unless we're lucky enough that they land in Alaska on an ice field, there's not much we could do. even if we tried using the cable techniqe, you have to realize that SW cables are made of advanced materials unavailable to us. Our cables would have to be strong enough to withstand the force exerted by the motors that drive it legs, or they'd just snap like string.

 

Bullets wouldn't scratch them. rockets would have to be well aimed as previouly mentioned. So basically, we'd be better off either overloading their circuitry, or knocking them over. also, we'd have to consider whether or not the weapons still fire once knocked over. This is an issue in Rebel Strike, where the some of the crashed ISD's turrets still work if you don't destroy them in orbit (naturally, this makes no sense due to the fact that atmospheric friction would wreak havoc on the turrets, but the principle works with ground vehicles).

Plus, once we destroy a few walkers with said techniques, they'd switch to using repulsor tanks instead.

 

Exactly. You make some excellent points, my friend. I remember that part in Rebel Strike myself. The 2-M's and TIE maulers would make short work of our infantry or even tanks, ( ie M1 Abrams ). Juggeranuts would be devastating but since the Empire didn;t use them that often the chances of one being onEarth would be slim to none.

[Tank Buster]

For AT walkers, AT-STs would be theoretically simplest to defeat. explosives planted at ground level would throw them off balance, toppling them. AT-ATs are much more durable, however. Tanks wouldn't do well because the AT-ATs would crush them under their footpads. Unless we're lucky enough that they land in Alaska on an ice field, there's not much we could do. even if we tried using the cable techniqe, you have to realize that SW cables are made of advanced materials unavailable to us. Our cables would have to be strong enough to withstand the force exerted by the motors that drive it legs, or they'd just snap like string.

 

what tank driver would be dumb enough to get stepped on by an ATAT? Even our slowest vehicles could outrun an ATAT. We could outmanuver, outrun, and outrange imperial walkers. furthermore I think you underestimate the power of our weapons. Small arms fire would certainly not penetrate their thick armor but an A-10's shells could easily penetrate that armor. So would shells from our tanks and artillery. Not to mention we don't even have to penetrate their armor, we just have to knock them over. Laser guided bombs and  missles could hit them in the side and bring them down. Even on the neck, the sheer force of the missile could blow the head off. Or hit th weak underside. Just bring an Apache down next to it and have it stick some missles in its legs and underbelly.

 

Walkers... Piece of cake. It's the other sutff we'd have to worry about. Juggnauts, and the like.

[Guest]

what tank driver would be dumb enough to get stepped on by an ATAT? Even our slowest vehicles could outrun an ATAT. We could outmanuver, outrun, and outrange imperial walkers. furthermore I think you underestimate the power of our weapons. Small arms fire would certainly not penetrate their thick armor but an A-10's shells could easily penetrate that armor. So would shells from our tanks and artillery. Not to mention we don't even have to penetrate their armor, we just have to knock them over. Laser guided bombs and  missles could hit them in the side and bring them down. Even on the neck, the sheer force of the missile could blow the head off. Or hit the weak underside. Just bring an Apache down next to it and have it stick some missles in its legs and underbelly.

Walkers... Piece of cake. It's the other sutff we'd have to worry about. Juggnauts, and the like.

hmmm you make a good point. An AT-At usually has an escourt of several AT-AA's and AT-ST's. Getting by them with an Apache would be tricky so like you said you could use artillery and the like.

[Tank Buster]

yes, you'd have to break up the group before going in and taking them out one by one.

 

Alright lets do this:

 

What would you do? Give command of modern millitary forces with an Imperial army coming towards your city how would you tackle it?

 

But first we have to define what it is they have in thier task force. Let's keep it on a smaller scale to simplify things. How about 3 ATATs, 6 ATSTs, and oh say 4 repulsor tanks and 2 AA vehicles (forgot the name of them).

 

Or someone come up with a more balanced task force. Using vehciles from EAW or something like that. And if you want use windows paint or something and draw out how they're deployed and in what formations they travel in, etc etc...

 

I'll do my scenario later.

 

This will be fun 

[Guest]

ok i could do something like that. Gimme a day or so tho.

[Guest]

Well instead of making a pic ( too lazy ) i'll type out a quick 'tactical battle' scenario.

First things first. We have no idea what these things can do and we gonna have to plan our attack based on what we can see. AT-AT's are big. AT-ST's are small etc etc. A first attack with jets would be unsuccesful due to the Imperial AT-AA's. So we'd have ton go in on land. The AT-ST's would rip our infantry to shreds but well placed maines with Javelin anti-tank launchers could take them down. The repulsor tanks like the AT-ST's would be devastating to our soldiers but would be toe-to-toe with a well armed tank. A few shells would rip through the armor and destroy it but thw laser cannons and possible missiles would force us to make a hasty retreat. The AT-AT's would be unstoppable unless a lucky marine discovered the 'weak neck' hitpoint.

[THX1138_pff]

Something else that everone has neglected to note is that what period in the SW timeline is this?

Pre Yavin?

Post Endor?

 

If its post endor, we wouldnt have AT-STs to worry about.

"AT-ST's will no longer be deployed on planets with an abundance of trees or other known obstacles such as rock-wielding primitives."

    ―AT-ST service manuals, post-Battle of Endor

I would say Earth has an abundance of trees.

 

Also, who is in control of the Imperial command force?

If it were Thrawn, He'd give us a chance to make peace, but if we had to fight, we would be screwed.

 

outrange imperial walkers

We could not outrange an AT-AT. Their range is at least 5 Miles.

And we might not be able to outrun them. AT-At max speed is 60 km/h.

Sure, most of our tanks could outrun them, but im not sure heavy mobile artillery would.

But heres a quote from wookiepedia. note the bit in bold.

"We had the Battle of Gormen won, until the AT-ATs arrived. They came out of the fog and ripped apart the front lines. The locals ran in terror, but the experienced soldiers surrendered. We knew that you can't outrun an AT-AT."

    ―Major Bren Derlin, Rebel Alliance field commander

 

I think AT-PTs would be the biggest concern against our infantry.

If we hit the transpariseel with enogh bullets, however, we should be able to take them down.

 

Centuary Tanks would be a major problem to take down, if we were in a post Endor setting, due to their speed, and their power. However like all tie varients it has the weakness of the connections between the cockpit and the treads/panels.

 

The standard Dtormtrooper would carry a BlasTech E-11 rifle. One shot from that would rip through our armour. If we are facing scout troopers, then we shoot the legs, as they have no armour plating on. The standard stormtroopers main weakness is their inacuracy. However, I highly doubt that this would occur, as it only occured in the films for the sake of keeping the heros alive.

 

As has been noted, TIE Fighters would be easy to take down. As for TIE Interceptors, If we flew low, we could probably either outmaneuver them or outsmart them. TIE Defenders, if they had them, would be a major problem.

BUT, and this is a big but. The Imperial R.O.E. (Rules Of Engagement) stated that Imperial TIE Fighters must have a 3 to 1 ratio advantage over enemy fighters in order to engage. Beating the enemy in numbers was a key part of Imperial strategy. We would severly outnumber the enemy. The US Air force, as far as I know, ournumbers the fighter complement of a ISD (TIE/ln starfighter (48), TIE/sa bomber (12),TIE boarding craft (12))

 

We would also outnumber them in terms of infantry. an ISD holds 9,700 infantry, not including officers, gunners or crew. in total there would be rougly 60,000 persons onboard an ISD that were capable of fighting. If you deduct away the large number needed to actually crew the ships, and the vehicles that would be used in the assault, you end up with a rather small number of infantry.

 

So I think we would win by sheer numbers, and because of a couple of Imperial protocols.

[Controller]

you never know the imperial commander might ignore those protocols. and even if we win the first time round. the imperial would just come back with a bigger force, or just slag the planet with the star destroyers still in orbit.

[Guest]

Something else that everone has neglected to note is that what period in the SW timeline is this?

Pre Yavin?

Post Endor?

 

If its post endor, we wouldnt have AT-STs to worry about.I would say Earth has an abundance of trees.

 

Also, who is in control of the Imperial command force?

If it were Thrawn, He'd give us a chance to make peace, but if we had to fight, we would be screwed.

We could not outrange an AT-AT. Their range is at least 5 Miles.

And we might not be able to outrun them. AT-At max speed is 60 km/h.

Sure, most of our tanks could outrun them, but im not sure heavy mobile artillery would.

But heres a quote from wookiepedia. note the bit in bold.

I think AT-PTs would be the biggest concern against our infantry.

If we hit the transpariseel with enogh bullets, however, we should be able to take them down.

 

Centuary Tanks would be a major problem to take down, if we were in a post Endor setting, due to their speed, and their power. However like all tie varients it has the weakness of the connections between the cockpit and the treads/panels.

 

The standard Dtormtrooper would carry a BlasTech E-11 rifle. One shot from that would rip through our armour. If we are facing scout troopers, then we shoot the legs, as they have no armour plating on. The standard stormtroopers main weakness is their inacuracy. However, I highly doubt that this would occur, as it only occured in the films for the sake of keeping the heros alive.

 

As has been noted, TIE Fighters would be easy to take down. As for TIE Interceptors, If we flew low, we could probably either outmaneuver them or outsmart them. TIE Defenders, if they had them, would be a major problem.

BUT, and this is a big but. The Imperial R.O.E. (Rules Of Engagement) stated that Imperial TIE Fighters must have a 3 to 1 ratio advantage over enemy fighters in order to engage. Beating the enemy in numbers was a key part of Imperial strategy. We would severly outnumber the enemy. The US Air force, as far as I know, ournumbers the fighter complement of a ISD (TIE/ln starfighter (48), TIE/sa bomber (12),TIE boarding craft (12))

 

We would also outnumber them in terms of infantry. an ISD holds 9,700 infantry, not including officers, gunners or crew. in total there would be rougly 60,000 persons onboard an ISD that were capable of fighting. If you deduct away the large number needed to actually crew the ships, and the vehicles that would be used in the assault, you end up with a rather small number of infantry.

 

So I think we would win by sheer numbers, and because of a couple of Imperial protocols.

 

I'd say we were fighting in post endor but since the Ewok attack thing really couldn't happen, I'd say we discount the no AT-St's thing. Other than that you make some excellent points. Our population in fighting forces would severly outnumber them. WE do have alot of fighters but i still belive that if a TIE can take down a x or A wing, they can take down a jet. The ROE is a good point but like ATAT controller said under different circumstances rules can change. TIe maulers or 'century tanks' would rip through our lines but be able to be taken down with some heavy fire.

[Tank Buster]

We could not outrange an AT-AT. Their range is at least 5 Miles.

And we might not be able to outrun them. AT-At max speed is 60 km/h.

Sure, most of our tanks could outrun them, but im not sure heavy mobile artillery would.

But heres a quote from wookiepedia. note the bit in bold.

"We had the Battle of Gormen won, until the AT-ATs arrived. They came out of the fog and ripped apart the front lines. The locals ran in terror, but the experienced soldiers surrendered. We knew that you can't outrun an AT-AT."

    ―Major Bren Derlin, Rebel Alliance field commander

 

where the hell did that quote come from? That sounds outrageous an ATAT making 60 km/h... actually how fast is 60 km/h? I don't use metric system much, one moment.... That's about 37mph. Oh that's not so fast. It still sounds faster than an ATAT ought to able to go but an M1 Abram's top speed is about 70mph. The new automated mobile howitzers were starting to build now can make about that much too. So if you were on foot or on rollar skates then I guess an ATAT could outrun you.  :

 

We still have them beat in range too. Our howitzers have a range of 30 something miles, and even our older ones from the Gulf War still have a 25 mile range. An M1 Abram(depending on the round fired) has a maximun range of 7.5 miles or roughly 12 km. Beating the ATAT's range of 5 miles.

 

Soon I shall post my battle scenario. I'm still working on it.

[Controller]

the quote came from the New Essential Guide to Vehicles & Vessels, as did the speed of an At-At,

 

and even if you could kill an At-At on its own, there are other problems as well. there is the imperial artillery, air cover and the At-At escort most of which will have to be destroyed while the At-At is ripping up our lines

[Tank Buster]

do they even have artillery? The only Imperial artillery I know of is the one in EAW. Which had a range of like 200 feet  :

 

I think that the Imperial army doesn't have much use of ground based moblie artillery because their artillery support comes from orbital bombardment from capital ships and whatnot. However the Imperial army won't always have the support of star destroyer over their heads so it's safe to assume that the imperial army does indeed have artillery pieces.

 

And who's to say we'd have lines? the key of modern warfare is mobility. Sit in one place too long or move too slowly and your toasted by artillery or aircraft.

 

One thing I don't like much when it comes to star wars is that the manner of warfare is fairly unrealistic. They have all of these advanced weapons and yet:

 

They sill use Napoleonic style tactics. In the prequels they march around in lines and columns while shooting at each other. Incredously they're doing it with automatic weapons and tanks too. Sheer nonsense.

 

We don't get to see a lot of ground action in 4-6, but the battle of hoth was remiscent of WWI with trenches and everything. And if the Imperial army does indeed have artillery why then did they not utilize it at hoth? They obviously wanted to bombard the base from orbit but they couldn't do it because of the planetary sheild. So how did the walkers get down there in the first place? I will assume for a moment that perhaps the shield will protect the rebels from laser energy but not solid objects but then it would be a simple task of using a atmosphere capable ship like a Victory class destroyer to go through the shield then bombard them. And even if they didn't have any Victory destroyers, then you just deploy bomber squadrons to bomb the base.

 

Also Notice how slowly thier guns fire. Especially in 4-6 the small arms have a real slow rate of fire.

[Guest]

We don't get to see a lot of ground action in 4-6, but the battle of hoth was reminiscent of WWI with trenches and everything. And if the Imperial army does indeed have artillery why then did they not utilize it at hoth? They obviously wanted to bombard the base from orbit but they couldn't do it because of the planetary shield. So how did the walkers get down there in the first place? I will assume for a moment that perhaps the shield will protect the rebels from laser energy but not solid objects but then it would be a simple task of using a atmosphere capable ship like a Victory class destroyer to go through the shield then bombard them. And even if they didn't have any Victory destroyers, then you just deploy bomber squadrons to bomb the base.

 

The shield would have protected them from artillery but perhaps there were to many rebels for artillery to be used effectively. Beats me. As of wookieepedia, the Empire possesses the mobile artillery: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mobile_artillery

and its upgrade: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Heavy_artillery

and the always annoying and stupid SPMA: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Self-Propelled_Medium_Artillery

 

So via these three ( two really ) the Empire would have been able to bombard enemy targets but these pieces would not be generally carried on board an ISD and would only be deployed in selective circumstances.

[Controller]

energy shields stop fast moving objects and or objects that arnt grounded. and vader wanted to capture some of the high ranking rebels(and luke) so i doubt he would have bombarded even if it were an option. and i didn't mean the word line like that. i just meant places where are forces are

[Tank Buster]

I think they did want to bombard it. Remember how vader killed off that first admiral because he blundred the fleet to close or far or something like that, and they lost the element of suprise so the rebels were able to get thier sheild up in time before they could bombard it. And I think they did have ground artillery with them. remember that the task force was specifically looking for the rebel base with means to destroy it.