Why didn't the rebel's use the X-wings against the AT-AT's

My question is exactaly that...why did the rebles bother using the speeders if they had x-wing readily available? I'm sure that x-wings have more powerful lasers, plus sheilds, plus proton torpedos. If i were in charge of base defence I would have had the x-wings in the sky, comming in on top of or behind the At-At's.

 

I've always wondered this myself, especially since one of the X-Wing books (Isard's Revenge) has a couple of Rogues taking out AT-ATs like it's nothing.

 

I think it has something to do with the X-Wings not being made for those conditions. I think there was a line in ESB about it but I could be wrong.

Hand

 

I haven't read Isard's revenge yet, but does the scene depicted on the cover actually take place? If not, well, Paul Youll's art is AWESOME but not always accurate.

 

Yeah, I think the X-Wings couldn't quite handle the weather. The X-Wings' blasters are much more powerful than the T-47s', so they could just blast AT-ATs to pieces.

 

I was a bit confused about this for a while. Too cold on Hoth? Space is cold. Space is far colder than Hoth could ever be. Hoth wishes it could be as cold as space.

Then I figured maybe ice and such might mess up some of the works.

 

"Then I figured maybe ice and such might mess up some of the works."

Yeah, i thought that too, but they seemed to have no problem getting off the planet.

 

New ships equal new toys..plain and simple look at all the batman movies,why change batmobile's swap costumes every sequel..etc.Lucas has to make new aliens,ships etc for hasbro to pump toys at you.It's an old money maker going as far back as 1977 with the original star wars

 

The way I see it, the X-Wings were needed to provide cover for the frigates as they escaped Hoth - protect them from any Tie's that may be waiting. Thus the Air Speeders were the only lower atmosphere craft that were available to support the ground troops in defending echo base.

Plus they make the scene look cool!

 

"It was more a matter of they needed those X-Wings for transport escorts more than base defense- remember the Rebels couldn't win Hoth regardless if the first wave of walkers went down, they were just buying time for the evacuation.

Well if they would have used the x-wings then the At-
at's would have gone down pretty dang fast, so they would have never gotten in range of the sheild generators, nor would they have allowed all theos snowtroopers to enter echo base as fast as they did.

 

The x-wings were needed to defend the transports.

And/or the X-wings are not able to fly under the shield for some reason. This is the same reason the Empire doesn't use TIE fighters.

Every two months, like clockwork, this question comes up.

 

The question no one is asking about this battle has nothing to do witht he ships, but the tactics.....

Why did the rebels fly back and forth towards the walkers, instead of side to side? The guns on the walkers face the front, and there are no guns on the sides. So, fly perpendicular to the walkers' path instead of parallel.

[sarcasm] Gee, you go shot talking a walker head on? You're kidding? How is that possible? IT'S ONLY GOT ALL ITS GUNS POINTED AT YOU!! [/sarcasm]

Duh.

 

Han-"Are the speeders ready?"

Dude-"Uh, not yet. Were having trouble adapting them to the cold."

Speeders made for cold weather still need to be tweaked. X-Wings not built for cold to start with.

Whats really gonna cook your noodle is Luke inadvertently killing Dak.

Dak-"Oh, Luke, Weve got a malfunction in fire control. Ill have to cut in the auxiliary."

Luke-"Just hang on, Dak. Get ready to fire that tow cable."

Dak-"Ah!"

Luke-"Oops."

 

As stated above, the X-Wings shouldn't need to be "adapted" to cold, as they can fly in the cold of space perfectly fine.

Also, I don't buy that the X-Wings couldn't fly under the shield - they had to fly under it as they were taking off from the planet, because the shield would only be opened for a few moments to allow the transports and fighter escorts to fly through.

I think the real reasons are, as stated above:

(1) the X-Wings are needed to escort the transports - remember, the first transport was away before the AT-ATs were even sighted. Speed was of the essence. If they waited and used the X-Wings to stave off the Imperial surface offensive,

(2) Also, the speeders were probably more maneuverable in atmosphere than the X-Wings, and made smaller targets.

The key fact is that at the time they were allocating their resources, the Rebels didn't know the composition of the Imperial ground force they would be up against. In that context, and given that they only had to hold off the ground assault long enough to evacuate the base (i.e. they didn't have to beat them, only delay them), their choices made sense.

 

There are a few good reasons why not:

1) The X-Wings were dispatched to protect frigates, etc. entering space and lightspeed
2) The rebs weren't prepared for the likes of the walkers and re-deploying the xwings on land would take too long
3) Reeikan (sp?) was a complete dumbass and couldn't fight his way out of his shirt.

 

Again, it isn't a matter of temperature, but a matter of moisture. There is no moisture to form ice in space, therefore the engines are fine.

On Hoth, there is a LOT of moisture, therefore the conditions are different, regardless of "temperature".

 

Freezing space is a good point. But think about it, its just movie stuff. New ships new film. If the X-Wings had gone up against the AT-ATs then this thread would be called "Why did they use another all X-wing battle?"

 

Why did the rebels fly back and forth towards the walkers, instead of side to side?

They did attack from the side. But in order to get to the side they had to approach the walkers.


The manuverability is a good idea. The cold is absurd, the moisture isn't good either since the ships had to enter/leave the atmosphere.

I still think it has to do with the shield.

 

The moisture really is the most likely point. Especially given the quote earlier in the film concerning the Speeders having trouble adapting to the environment.

 

If the x-wings can't fly because of the moisture, then how did they get into the base? And how did they fly to defend the transports, and how did Luke take off, etc...

 

Don't know.
Maybe a short blast off into space was fine for an X-Wing, but a longer fight operation on the surface (as the snowspeeders take on) would've led to big problems in the machinery.

I don't think the X-Wings would be able to pull off some of the tight turns of the 'speeders, since they're more suited for operating in atmosphere wheras the X-Wings were created for fighting in a vaccuum.

 

In the Rogue Squadron video games there is a big X-Wing/Tie Fighter fight happening above the ground battle.
I know? I know? EU stuff don't count? close mindedness?

 

In Vietnam, the USAF found that F4 Phantoms simply flew too fast to hit ground targets; older slower aircraft like the prop driven Skyraider were retained and eventually the need gave rise to the A10 Warthog. That's my answer to the X-wing question - too dang fast.

 

Well, it's certainly lucky for Luke that his fighter didn't encounter any moisture when he crashed in the swamp