# X-Wings v. AT-AT's **URL:** \ **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:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![iggy\_popov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@iggy\_popov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iggy_popov)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/41 "2004-12-16T21:51:49Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > IIRC, looking at the hologram before the attack, wasn’t either the shield generator or all of Endor covered by the shield that’s protecting the Death Star? > > Keep in mind that Han & Co. had to request deactivation of the shield before they were allowed to land on Endor. > > Another thing to keep in mind is that in Star Wars there seem to be two kinds of shields (or maybe one kind that’s affected by the power you have available). One kind is the deflector shield which seems to do no good against a direct hit - see the fighting against the first Death Star for examples. The second kind is the actual 100% protection type, which is what we saw around Echo Base and DS2. > > -Joe, geek When I get off of work in an hour I’ll check this out on the DvD. I’m pretty sure that the shield was only around the death star though. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/42 "2004-12-16T22:17:24Z")
> [@iggy popov](#): > > What I never could understand regarding air support was in Return of the Jedi. Instead of waiting for Han and Company to blow up the shield generator on Endor, Why didn’t they send a ship from the battle above down to just bomb the damn thing? At that point when the Death Star shield was still up you would think that sending one or two ships down the the planet would be a lot simpler than waiting around to see if the ground troops finished the job. Simple: the giant deflector dish was probably surrounded by hundreds of AA-guns. No way an X-Wing could get within a hundred kilometers of that thing without getting shot down. ---
**Author:** ![iggy\_popov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@iggy\_popov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iggy_popov)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/43 "2004-12-17T01:40:58Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Simple: the giant deflector dish was probably surrounded by hundreds of AA-guns. No way an X-Wing could get within a hundred kilometers of that thing without getting shot down. Isn’t that what they said about both death stars too? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/44 "2004-12-17T04:27:56Z")
Starfighters are probably not very good atmospheric fighters, and in any case, Snowspeeders can’t cover Space Transports that are trying to run an Imperial Blockade. IIRC, space is “hot” relative to the distance from a sun; in a planetary shadow, or in _ideep_ space, space is quite cold. Also IIRC, the DS2 shield at Endor went all the way down to the ground (it sure looked that way in Ackbar’s cool holographic display tank). What I want to know is this: back on Tatooine during EP: IV, why didn’t the blockading Star Destroyers deploy their scads of TIE Fighters to assist with the blockade? Why didn’t the Star Destroyers chasing the Millenium Falcon from Tatooine, and then later from Hoth, ever use their Ion Cannons to simply disable the damned junkheap? ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/45 "2004-12-17T05:21:55Z")
> [@](#): > > What I want to know is this: back on Tatooine during EP: IV, why didn’t the blockading Star Destroyers deploy their scads of TIE Fighters to assist with the blockade? ILM didn’t have the funds. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2004, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899/46 "2004-12-17T10:57:16Z")
> [@](#): > > What I want to know is this: back on Tatooine during EP: IV, why didn’t the blockading Star Destroyers deploy their scads of TIE Fighters to assist with the blockade? They’re short-range fighters, meant for close dogfighting rather than patrol. They HAD dedicated patrol boats (rather, they were retconned in), but they weren’t seen. I guess Star Destroyers have faster real-space acceleration than smaller vessels (hell, look how quickly they rounded Endor for the ambush in ROTJ…) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/x-wings-v-at-ats/279899.md?page=2)