Hmm...we are pretty much assuming that the Imperials will land so that they can get into the shield and shut it down, but the shield, I take it, must be very weak if no one has faith in the Osokan technology.
Plus, orbital bombings are pretty brutal.
Well, I can't think of much to prevent the shield from being weak. If the Imperials decide to go with an orbital bombing, not much we could do about that. Our number of pilots is limited, and the TIE Fighters would prove to be far outnumbering. An a direct assault on a Destroyer is an act of suicide unless we have great numbers and support and so on, which we don't.
(Hey Ush. Just what, exactly, can get through a shield like on Lanzar? I mean does it only keep out lasers? Does it work on missiles, ships, or other misc. solid projectiles? I know in EPI the battle droids were able to walk through the Gungan's shield, but I wondered if this one is different/better in some way. Also, how low does it extend? Is it more like an umbrella or would it go all the way to the ground? I remember in ESB that the the Walker had no problems shooting the rebels' generator. But was it because the shield didn't reach the ground or because the Walker walked through the shield first?)
The Imperials do not generally use atmospheric fighters, no. Any fighter can actually be deployed in atmosphere, but as noted earlier, space fighters get large penalties when doing so.
In any case, anything trying to fly through that shield would be extremely vulnerable; in fact, a TIE fighter would almost certainly crash trying.
Like all SW shields, it repels energy but physical objects can push through (even the shield covering the Death Star exhaust port admitted physical objects and we can safely assume that was as good as can be).
However, just because it lets physical objects through, that does not make missiles a good idea- it needs to be literally 'pushed' through, as such, so it still has a physical presence. Most missiles would explode, and even if they didn't, their trajectory would be way off.
As for the details of their shield- you don't know.
Odrus thinks they will land? Err, he just said the exact opposite.
We need to use the sheild as both our advantage and our objective, find some way of a last resort 'trench'.
My thinking is that they will deploy a battalion in the AT-AT yet land the majority of the troops on the verge of the sheild, they will probably try to attack from two fronts; from the jungles and from within the shield construct.
Their stormtroopers will be more effective in urban terrain, unless they use scout troopers. the two types are most effective in their home field; i personally hope they field more scouts (as long as they dont use Swoop-Bykes)
Shootfirst/questions later is something that will depend in the actual Imperial players themselves. This is a genuine game of trying to guess the actions of your opponents, rather than myself.
Manufacturing evidnece, I will remind people, is not allowed in this game, by either side.
Shields CAN give, yes. They only have a cerrtain strength.
And yes, a bombardment of Lanzar would cause upraor in the Senate, rather like an invasion- unless it can be justified. Whilst the Senatorial mission lasts, they won't be able to do a thing.