Ok, everyone knows how the rebels were able to bring down the AT-ATs in Empire Strikes Back by flying around them with their speeders and wraping the legs in tow-cable.
But why did they trip so easily? It stands to reason that an “All Terrain” transport would have automatic sensors that would prevent it from taking a step that would cause it to trip. At the worst, it should have just realized there was an obstruction and stood in place. Thoughts?
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Any answer is obviously going to be a rationalization since we can’t know any reason from the movie.
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One theory:
The sensors in the AT-AT had no way of knowing that the tow line was Super Strength Rebel Tow Line, as opposed to just rope or normal tow line. Probably just figured those huge powerful legs could break through it so there wouldn’t be any reason to stand in place. Sorta like if you snuck up to an M1A1 tank and tied the rear bumper to a streetsign (just play along, OK?). There would be no reason to think that the tank couldn’t just bust right though it and snap the line.
So that Luke can seem clever and heroic. Same as the answer to the question, “Why would an aircraft need a wire cable that shoots out of the back when it flies past?”
Aww, c’mon, Loach, haven’t you ever wanted to harpoon somthing from the back of your chopper? Huh? A pizza? A locomotive?
OK you got me. Its always been a fantasy of mine.
Look, the Defense of Hoth was and still is one of the coolest battle scene ever filmed, but you have to admit that it makes absolutely no sense. The insanely vulnerable AT-ATs? The tow-cables? The fact that the Empire had no air support? The utter uselessness of the Rebel infantry, who for all the good it did would have been better off staying in the base? Face it, it only works when you don’t think about it too much.
Well, look at it like this: you’re in charge of testing these things before the Imperials put them into use. In the course of testing, you discover that a simple cable can take out one of these forty billion space buck monstrosities. You’re just about to call up Moff Wossisname to tell him to cancel the entire order, when you notice the invoice for the AT-ATs is from Wossisname Construction, Ltd. And you work in a military force that regularly uses open airlocks as a disciplinary measure. Are you going to make a big stink about it? Hell no. It’s not like you’re going to be the guy piloting that damned thing. You sign off on it and start looking for a subordinate to blame when one of these things does a faceplant in the middle of a real firefight.
You know, that also explains the fatal design flaw in the Death Star. I mean, it took the Rebs about 45 minutes to spot it - what are the odds that no Imperial QC team ever noticed?
Among other traits, Nazi Germany and the Empire both had a bad habit of investing too heavily in war weaponry suffering from grandiosity of design that overshadowed function. Just as the Germans had ponderous and vulnerable 800mm railway guns, near useless 120m barrel length underground V3 superhowitzers, and the gas-guzzlingly useless 188 ton Maus Tank, the Empire has walking fortresses that can be tripped by running around them a few times with a wire and insisted on building at least two moon-sized planet destroying space stations that can be vaporized by a single well placed shot from a one seat fighter.
The answer is pretty straightforward: Lucas’ trilogy is a fabulous quilt-work of all the best parts of ageless classics, and the AT-AT walkers are transparently transliterated from the Oliphaunts of the Haridrim, brought to bear against the men of Gondar in the War of the Ring.
Tripping with rope and slashing with swords worked against Oliphaunts, because they were flesh and blood creatures, and tripping with rope and slashing with swords worked against AT-AT, because they were Oliphaunts overlayed with a thin gloss of technology.
If you want to rationalize it …
Imperial forces aren’t expecting resistance as the Empire is notionally at peace/subjugation, so everything they have is designed to impress / scare the bejeebers out of the the local hicks.
Having a wobbly AT-AT is one thing, but Imperial Stormtroopers can’t even shoot straight :rolleyes:
So wait a sec…you’re asking what is the purpose of a tow cable?
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To tow things. This is something that does actually make sense. Perhaps those snow speeders are actually just the SW equivalent of a wrecker. The rebels just thought of an ingenious way to use them against AT-ATs. After all, it was the snow speeders that were out cruising around in the morning looking for Luke and Han. Without the tow cable, how do you suggest that they hauled that tauntaun carcass back to Echo base?
To say nothing of the…“armor”.
Man, I’ll bet that would leave quite a trail of tauntaun-burger when they came in for a landing. (Or maybe the speeders have little detachable repulsor-palettes stowed somewhere?)
Hey, it took 45 minutes and the deaths of many Bothans. That’s got to count for something.
Hell, you thought the Maus was bad, try the P1000 “Ratte.”
So yeah, I guess just because you have an advanced or gargantuanly impressive design, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea…much less practical, or even built well.
Say, did the Empire just have state-run “design bureaus,” or did the AT-AT construction contract get awarded to the lowest bidder?
I always wondered if the drivers got bored and loaded on Saturday nights and made them dance to The Baby Elephant Walk. DOO do do do doodoo doodoo DOO DOO!
Probably the lowest bidder. That would also explain why the Stormtroopers can’t hit anything. It’s not that they can’t shoot straight; it’s that their blasters are the cheapest pieces of crap that the Empire could find.
That’s not all…
“I can’t see a thing in this helmet!” --Luke Skywalker. 
I liked the take that the SG1 crew in Stargate had about Goa’uld advanced weaponry. Sure it’s advanced, but it’s mainly designed to instill fear among lesser advanced cultures. So one of our primitive assault rifles is way more effective than a Goa’uld staff weapon.
Likewise, an AT-AT looks really impressive & scary as it’s bearing down on your primitive defenseless little village, but if you actually have some practical tech of your own, it’s toast.
I think the Empire got lazy and overconfident and figured their scary psychological weapons were OK against practical weapons. Dumbshits.
Why would you build an AT-AT anyway, if not for the psychological effect?