The Empire Strikes Back!

A dark day for revolutionaries everywhere, seeing the side of righteousness be stricken by a corrupt and indecent empire, no? Or was the fun of watching those self righteous pricks be struck down greater then the satisfaction of good winning again? BTW, why AT ATS, when tanks and arty would be more efficient?

In..."The Guide" (I don't remember the name of the book, can you blame me?), it says the the AT-AT walkers were devestating as pshychological weapons.

I mean, imagine a giant...dear trying to smash you.

Be that as it may, giant walking robo's<shell shock and horrific shrapnel wounds.

Why AT-ATs? Because its Star Wars; who wants to use tanks in Star Wars? Rhetorical question...

Massive machines stomping towards you, towering high above the surface, is much scarier than a tank that you could pump a few shells of artillery into.

its funny but if I was a rebel I'd probably surrender on the off chance of getting a ride in one

If I would see those AT AT's coming towards me I'd wet my bed!

Trade federation had tanks.

Im gonna build a AT TS

AT-AT's because they could carry alot of troops, it's right in the name, people. All Terrrain Armored Transport. Also their armor was too thick for any Rebel weapons to get through.

Originally posted by Sesse
Trade federation had tanks.

At-Ats look better on the screen. If you just had tanks, they would not be as effective for viewers. Case in point the Trade Federation tanks looked stupid

Probably because the rebel base had an ion cannon that it was using that could hit even ships in orbit and perhaps some kind of umbrella-like planetary shield that would protect it from a direct ship bombardment and from flying craft beyond a certain altitude.

Also, Vader wanted the protagonists captured alive. Sending in ships is pretty messy, while sending in AT-ATs enabled them to overcome the shield, destroy the ion cannon, and storm the base, which the Imperials did.

Also, because I got off of the original question, artillery requires homing in and excessive payloads moved over distances. Tanks need to be able to go over the terrain and be armoed enough to withstand direct assault. At-ATs put out tons of firepower and are heavily armored, plus they take big strides.

How about hoover tanks then? As the TF-tanks weer if i remember correctly.

I think we've agreed that tanks don't have the same impact as a giant robot, and that's why Lucas did it.

Yeah, I mean, I'd be scared if I saw a Panzer IV comin towards me, sure.

But if I saw a f*ckin AT-AT headin my way, I'm boltin it out of the country.

... unless I had a decent targeting system (anything made after WW2 can probably take one out).