Right they talked about during the Utapau scenes (the commentary on ROTS Blu Ray).

 

I guess it looks better on screen when there's guys running all over the place shooting and dying and stuff, but really, why not just duck for cover? Look at droids! They don't have shield generators on themselves! So just drop an atomic bomb and blam they are all gone!

Forgive me for my ignorance as I am not in the military, but do we still send thousands of troops into battle all shooting and having formations and such? It was my understanding that we mostly did duck-and-cover tactics and stuff.

Maybe, in order to capture a planet or something, you need a gazillion troops...

Speaking on that, what is the definition of a "conquered planet"? Do you just capture the capital and then that's it?

 

The answer to your question is no (well not really). In terms of Infantry (which is what I was) then no the soldiers are not in formations of massed troops shoulder to shoulder. However, they do mass tanks and other armored vehicles in fairly tight formations so as to mass the greatest amount of firepower. Of course, it also depends on the terrain. You're obviously not gonna mass your armored units together in a major city (as it reduces manueverability) but you would in the desert. Infantry doesn't do "duck and cover" as that's what was taught in the 50's to school children to protect from themselves from falling objects (i.e the ceiling of their school) but instead use what's called fire and manuever. Half the soldiers lay down cover fire and the other half rush ahead. Then after a few seconds the soldiers who had rushed ahead will drop down and lay down cover fire so that the other half (which was previously laying down fire) can rush ahead next.

 

ILNP is correct. I'm currently in the US Army as an infantryman myself.

 

So...why do the droids and clones charge at each other when they could easily just drop a bomb and obliterate each other? Why not do orbital bombardment?

 

Possibly because, for one reason or another, they want that part of enemy territory intact.

 

Yep. Not much point in obliterating what you're trying to take.

 

Still doesn't explain the atrocious formations of clones and droids at Geonosis. Seriously, standing out in the open en masse? That's just asking to be carpet-bombed.

 

That can be explained to the amateur-ish nature of the leadership. Jedi, not soldiers, leading one side; terrified businessmen trying to escape, leading the others.

 

But you'd think that after millennia of conflict, there'd be a little better idea of warfare right? And by the end of the Clone Wars, they should've realized their terrible tactics and made them better...

 

Changing this would alter the entire OT, but:

When watching ANH, I realised if they would've charged the superlaser on the Death Star while coming into range onto Yavin IV, they could've possibly destroyed the Rebels right there.

I looked it up, and I guess the main consensus is that they couldn't use both at once. I wondered why the Death Star didn't have separate hyper matter reactors, one for the super laser and the other for the reactor-ion engines, so both could be used at the same time. And thus, this (from my very limited physics knowledge) might've allowed the Empire to charge and fire on Yavin IV before the Rebellion had the chance to stop them.

 

Well Tarkin was feeling pretty invincible at that point and well, he had good reason to be feeling invincible. So he probably didn't see much reason for haste.

 

Also, the DS1 is full of flaws compared to the DS2. They probably made some major changes in the new death star compared to the old one...

 

The first Death Star didn't have flaws. The proton torpedo shot to the core was literally impossible, and it was only because there was a Force user flying that X-wing that the battle station was destroyed.

 

The torpedoes didn't detonate at the core. They caused a chain reaction near the surface that made the core blow.

 

OK so maybe not flaws but the DS2 was updated compared to the DS1. The targeting of the superlaser was much more precise, allowing it to destroy one of the rebel's capital ships. It was much bigger as well. But idk why they left this giant hole that a ship could enter, that leads right to the main reactor core. I mean really the military strategists have got to be on something to let that pass...

 

It wasn't done being constructed yet.

 

That great big hole was there because it was under construction.

Edit: Bah, missed it by that much. You're too fast DarthBoba

 

Oh ok thanks I was thinking...you didn't learn from the last time a massive multi-bazillion dollar battlestation was destroyed? But now it makes sense...

 

Also, gotta give the Rebels some way of killing the Death Star or else they won't take the bait.

 

I'd suggest Palpatine being present was more than enough bait.