Originally posted by Fishy
He did underestimate them... He should have prepared better. He should have let his fleet take care of them. He should have given false info or at least have prepared for the possible failure of his shield.. He underestimated his enemy and because of that he failed.
Yeah, but I still wonder what exactly went wrong in plan, AH! I already know! The ewoks killing all the troopers! oops.
It wasn't Luke or the rebellion all along, it was the ewoks! 🙁
After all, he did lead Lukes friends into a trap on that planet.
They were not supposed to survive.
Palpatine said it himself.
"Oh, I'm quite afraid the shield generator will be operational. We're quite same from your friends here."
ROTJ.
He had confidence in his superweapon and his groundward team. The idea that the rebels could break the the formation, take down the shield and make the death-defying strike at the DS's core is one in a million. Honestly, under most circumstances, it couldn't be recreated.
No probably not, fact remains he didn't have a back up plan. He put all his cards into that one thing. Its a mistake to make, he created one line of defense when that one line falls nothing remains and you are screwed. Palpatine didn't tink of that, its a foolish mistake to make.. and shows that he underestimates his enemy's and thinks to highly of himself and his troops.