# X-Wings v. AT-AT's
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 15, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899 "2004-12-15T01:43:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/1 "2004-12-15T01:43:38Z")
Why didn’t the the Rebels use X-Wings against the AT-AT’s during the Battle of Hoth? Wouldn’t the X-Wings’ proton torpedos have been effective against the AT-AT’s?
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### Author:  [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/2 "2004-12-15T01:48:30Z")
I posed the question to my 11-year-old and he said that it’s probably because the X-wings were being used for the evacuation.
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/3 "2004-12-15T02:24:32Z")
Perhaps X-Wings aren’t quite as nimble “in-atmosphere” as the speeders. Why they couldn’t retrofit proton torpedos onto the speeders, I don’t know…
Tactics bedamned, the plot of the movie depended on the AT-AT’s winning the Battle of Hoth.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/4 "2004-12-15T03:00:24Z")
Not just atmosphere – the idea is that the freezing ice and snow quickly rendered regular fighters inoperable, so the snowspeeders were hastily developed. They’re “actually” made from cannibalized Y-wing parts, fitted with heavy insulation, extra armor, and repulsor-lifts to aid them in planetary gravitation.
Uh, according to a passing 11-year-old.
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### Author:  [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/5 "2004-12-15T06:24:49Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#):
>
> the idea is that the freezing ice and snow quickly rendered regular fighters inoperable
As opposed to, say, the nice sunny beach that is Outer Space?
-lv
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/6 "2004-12-15T06:35:10Z")
> [@LordVor](#):
>
> As opposed to, say, the nice sunny beach that is Outer Space?
>
> -lv
Does it snow that much in Outer Space?
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### Author:  [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/7 "2004-12-15T07:01:58Z")
In space it’s a dry cold. 😃
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### Author:  [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/8 "2004-12-15T07:29:20Z")
My guess is that using the X-Wing on a terrestrial battle would be like using a Concorde jet to dust crops; too fast, and not enough braking power to be able to slow down to deal with objects close to the ground. The X-wing engines were probably designed to operate at extremely high revolutions and slow down gradually because they would have been used in space where there is nothing to crash into.
Ever notice how a jet-ski has no brakes? The manufacturers of jet-skis could have built water jets to shoot out from the front of the jet-ski, in the opposite direction from the ones in the rear that propel it forward, to be able to stop it quickly. In the water, though, there’s a lot of space to deal with and a huge margin for error because there’s nothing out there to crash into. A jet ski isn’t cost-effective to add brakes to for that reason; sure, they could work, but in reality the only way to slow down a jet ski is to release the throttle and just slow down gradually. It would cost far too much to add additional jets to the jet-skis to be able to brake. Likewise the manufacturers of the X-wing probably didn’t add powerful brakes for the same reason.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/9 "2004-12-15T07:37:13Z")
Of course, we mustn’t forget the fact that the AT-AT is one of the _worst_ designs for a land siege engine. Four big lumbering legs, ripe for the trippin’ – how the frag did that ever get past the initial design stage?
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/10 "2004-12-15T08:01:48Z")
> [@rjung](#):
>
> Four big lumbering legs, ripe for the trippin’ – how the frag did that ever get past the initial design stage?
There’s design continuity from the original model first brought to market by [Haradrim Heavy Industry](http://home.zhwin.ch/~bernaste/rings/bilder/gallery/tt/high_res/oliphaunts.jpg). 😃
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/11 "2004-12-15T08:46:42Z")
> [@rjung](#):
>
> Of course, we mustn’t forget the fact that the AT-AT is one of the _worst_ designs for a land siege engine. Four big lumbering legs, ripe for the trippin’ – how the frag did that ever get past the initial design stage?
I figure that the Empire’s military-industrial complex is full of the kind of guys who were designing all those [weird Nazi weapons](http://www.luft46.com/) that Germany never got the chance to build.
Either that…or, in some strange, alien enviroment of the Star Wars galaxy, there exists a place where the AT-ATs _are_ a practical and effective weapons system. :eek:
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/12 "2004-12-15T09:02:03Z")
Man, if you look at the novels (and I’m not necessarily recommending it), they toss X-wings at AT-AT’s all the time, and of course the cash-strapped Rebel equipment is somehow t3h ub3rzzz when up against the army with unlimited funds…
But yeah, there was not technical reason why the X-wings didn’t go against the walkers… on the other hand, there’s no reason why several flights of TIE fighters and bombers didn’t simply fly under the shield for air support…
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/13 "2004-12-15T09:03:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Of course, we mustn’t forget the fact that the AT-AT is one of the worst designs for a land siege engine. Four big lumbering legs, ripe for the trippin’ – how the frag did that ever get past the initial design stage?
I always figured they just never intended their walkers to go up against an actual armed force. They figured intimidation was enough… oops.
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### Author:  [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/14 "2004-12-15T09:07:36Z")
Slight Hijack, but related, I swear!
Was there ever an explanation for why the rebels didn’t build the shield generator inside the shield itself?
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/15 "2004-12-15T09:18:31Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#):
>
> I figure that the Empire’s military-industrial complex is full of the kind of guys who were designing all those [weird Nazi weapons](http://www.luft46.com/) that Germany never got the chance to build.
[Some of them](http://www.ricardobarreiroweb.com.ar/imagenes/naves/nave_gotha-229e.jpg) eventually [got off the ground](http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/7512/b2-4.jpg), though. 😃
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/16 "2004-12-15T12:33:18Z")
> [@Duderdude2](#):
>
> Slight Hijack, but related, I swear!
>
> Was there ever an explanation for why the rebels didn’t build the shield generator inside the shield itself?
They did. That’s why the Empire had to deploy troops at a distance, as opposed to just bombarding the base from orbit.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/17 "2004-12-15T14:30:52Z")
A better tactic would have been tilting that ion cannon toward the walkers rather than the sky, stopping them in their tracks, and forcing a man to man battle.
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### Author:  [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/18 "2004-12-15T14:58:52Z")
A legged AT-AT would be able to traverse rougher terrain than a wheeled or tracked vehicle. NASA’s JPL is looking at legged rovers for future Mars missions.
Still, it wouldn’t have hurt them if they could have moved just a little faster, or maybe had spikes on the legs, or radioactive spiders that jumped out, or …
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/19 "2004-12-15T15:08:45Z")
Well, they do have really high ground clearance and can fire at things over the horizon line fro ground troops.
> [@](#):
>
> As opposed to, say, the nice sunny beach that is Outer Space?
Space isn’t really cold. Nor is it hot. It just isn’t anything. Its actually a fine insulator.
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### Author:  [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/20 "2004-12-15T15:14:11Z")
> [@lno](#):
>
> Still, it wouldn’t have hurt them if they could have moved just a little faster, or maybe had spikes on the legs, or radioactive spiders that jumped out, or …
Oh, sure, and make the enitre Rebel army into a bunch of angst-ridden, super-strong-and-agile webslingers? I think not… 😃
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