Starfleet Jedi

How does the ground battle of Endor go?

Praeothmin wrote:How does the ground battle of Endor go?

I'm yet to watch Avatar (the more buzz, the less I care), but going by the few bits I saw, assuming moderate levels of tacticool and control of the structures (shield, compound, etc.) and only troops and mechanized units beings replaced, they'd seem more apt at handling something as miserable as Ewoks and a handful Rebels.

When it comes to soldiers there's not that big of a difference, except perhaps a boost in competence. The RDA soldiers are little more then regular humans wearing soft body armor of some sort, using guns that are similar to what we have today. They will be vulnerable to Ewok rocks and arrows. Well, the exposed bits of their bodies will be vulnerable to the arrows, at least.

The real stomp comes when you consider the AMP suits. Much smaller and more numerous then the AT-STs, but also much more adept at killing furries. They're less likely to be smashed by swinging logs (because of their size), and falling over means they'll just get up again. Add to this thermal sensors that can track Ewoks in the forest, and a 30mm autocannon, and it's not going to be pretty.

Without the AT-ST's to be hijacked, this should be a win for the mercs. The Rebs were losing or certainly appeared to me like they were until Chewie hijacked one. The Ewoks have no armour to speak of and the Rebels had what, a helmet?

The Dude wrote:Without the AT-ST's to be hijacked, this should be a win for the mercs. The Rebs were losing or certainly appeared to me like they were until Chewie hijacked one. The Ewoks have no armour to speak of and the Rebels had what, a helmet?

Dude, not this misrepresentation again... :)
The Ewoks were running away, true, but how many retreats turned into ambushes for Stormtroopers?
How many Ewoks actually got killed by those AT-STs?
How many of the 4 AT-STs were destroyed by the Ewoks before Chewie commandeered his AT-ST?
2... The Ewoks destroyed 2 AT-STs before Chewie got his and killed the last one...
And rewatch the battle, and you'll see only 3-5 Ewoks were killed by the Stormies, while the Ewoks took out between 10-20 Stormies in that battle...
The Stormies were already losing, and Chewie's action only expedited that loss...

:-)

And how would they have gained access to the bunker? Didn't Han use the comms system in the AT-ST to fool the Imps into opening the door?

Never seen Avatar in theaters, but have watches parts of the ending on DVD. SecOps is way more competent and ruthless than their Imperial counterparts, and better equipped to boot. They even have proper air support, which they used to good effect against the Navi, who are physically bigger and probably a whole helluva lot stronger than Ewoks, not to mention, unlike the Ewoks, they had actual domesticated animals, which they rode into combat.

Let's also be clear that until the Navi pulled out their Gaian Deus Ex Machina, that SecOps was winning hands down with only modest casualties.
-Mike

The Dude wrote:And how would they have gained access to the bunker? Didn't Han use the comms system in the AT-ST to fool the Imps into opening the door?

Yes, you are right, the one Chewie commandeered.

But while this IS what got them inside the bunker, the fight outside was definitely a losing one for the Stormtroopers... :)

*shrug* Thats not what I got out of it. Bet the RDA are better shots though.

The Dude wrote:*shrug* Thats not what I got out of it. .

Ok then, how did you analyze the fight?
You've got military experience, I don't, so I'd like your professional opinion.
I'd like to have an understanding of what makes you, the pro, feel like they were winning whle I, the not-so-pro-weekend-paintball-warrior got the opposite impression...

Seriously curious and intrigued... :)

And if you don't feel like having your analysis debated or dissected, you can pm me...

I haven't even bothered, in fact I haven't watched ROTJ in years. The impression I got however from the music and the little fuzballs getting gunned down was that the Ewoks were intended to lose. Authors intent so to speak.

Ok...

Shoot, and here I was hoping for combat insights from a military man... :)