CT Why did the Empire enter Echo Base instead of destroy it?

It seems as if once General Veers took down the shield generator, the Star Destroyers could have bombard the base. Instead, Vader enters it and allows the last of the rebels to escape including the Millenium Falcon.

 

I'd imagine it was a mix of allowance for plot and perhaps the possibility that they wanted to capture prisoners or information.

 

Is the reason not that Vader was after Luke (and thus didn't want to accidentally kill him?)

You could also (perhaps more validly) ask why didn't the Devastator just destroy the Tantine IV at the start of ANH.

 

Vader was probably curious about a familiar presence / disturbance in the force (Luke) after the Death Star Trench fiasco - "The force is strong with this one".

 

Maybe he was looking for Luke personally.

 

I don't think this is really a mystery:

It's pretty clear Vader was going into the base after Luke, or anyone who could lead him to Luke.

 

That was clearly motivated by Vader trying to find what happened to the plans. By destroying the Tantive IV, he loses his only lead in the investigation. It also doesn't prevent the possibility of the plans escaping via the HoloNet or some other means (which is what happens in the film anyways)

 

Cause that would make them lazy.

 

I think Vader's entire presence on Hoth evolved from looking for Skywalker, to relizing he was not there anymore, to seeing the Falcon leave and relizing he could not only get to Luke through them but also get prisoners of war in his grip. There is a lot going on there besides vader killing mistake makers in his fleet.

 

The problem though is that Luke doesn't return to Echo base until after the shield is down. Unless Vader's force sensing wasn't that precise, he had some time to destroy almost the entire Rebellion and still capture Luke alive.

 

Well, even if Vader knew Luke wasn't @ Echo Base, maybe he thought someone there did know & he could get them to give him information on Luke's whereabouts...

 

I think not destroying the base actually makes Luke harder to find. With all the noise of the evacuation and ground assault, he slipped into space unnoticed. However, if he and only the Rebels outside the base survived, the Empire could just wait until he would have come out of the cold...

 

But if the base is destroyed with Skywalker in it then Vader will never get the chance to explore the possibility of Luke joining him in the dark side.

 

But Skywalker isn't in the base when Vader enters. Unless Vader can't sense exactly if Luke is in the base or not, he could have destroyed the base and captured Luke. There is the possibility that the Empire would want prisoners or information. This however, did not seem to interest them in ANH, when they were going to destroy the Rebel base on Yavin 4. This is basically the same situation except no Death Star and an only more cautious, and vigilant Empire.

 

I don't think Vader's sense is that precise in the movies, he couldn't pinpoint Luke's precise location on the second Death Star when Luke was hiding, and they were only a few dozen feet apart at most.

I think it can be assumed that Vader doesn't have Echo Base destroyed to avoid any chance of killing Luke, or anyone who might be of use in capturing Luke in case he escapes. Vader is playing it safe, and I think for good reason.

 

An orbital bombardment would create an awful lot of destruction to the Base and the surrounding area. When the shield generators were active, such a bombardment was not possible but once the generators were down, it made more sense for the ground troops to simply press forward than for them to pull back and begin the bombardment.

It isn't exactly like the Empire was losing the fight or anything like that.

 

Yes, but while the ground troops were "pressing forward" Rebel transports were exiting the system en masse. It would be considered in most circles, to be a massive tactical failure to have your enemy's army trapped together, surrounded, in one base and, let enough of them escape to launch a major offensive against you within a campaign (battle of Endor) and, to not eliminate nor capture, any major leaders of said military force. This is a massive failure regardless if "victory" was achieved. An Aerial bombardment eliminates most of that failure.

 

I don't see how. The ships themselves are mobile and have their own shields. Aerial bombardments are used against stationary objects like bases or cities. You wouldn't use an orbital bombardment to hit the Millennium Falcon or the Rebel Transports.

Furthermore, I think it is safe to assume that the Battle of Endor included rebel assets that were not present at Hoth and therefore never had to "escape" Hoth to begin with. I didn't see terribly many Mon Cal Capital Ships at Echo Base.

 

Vader knew Luke was down there. I'm not sure that they had that strong of a connection at that point that he could pinpoint his exact location and know if he was or wasn't inside the base. So, he didn't want to risk blowing up his prey. Simple as that.

 

Right, because all he had to do was walk outside and there was Luke heading towards his X-Wing. Probably a couple hundred yards away.

 

I think the answer is quite obvious, like others have said. Vader was most likely looking for Luke and thus needed to search the base himself. Also, I believe the Imperials would want to search any archives on Hoth for more information about different Rebel locations and activities. If they had simply took down the shields and bombarded the base from space those records would not have survived.